


In the Dark of the Night

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Courage the Cowardly Dog, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed Edd n Eddy, Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Mike Lu & Og, Scooby Doo - All Media Types, Total Drama
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-11 19:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 24,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4449719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after the disappearance of famed author Ben Ravencroft, the Kanker sisters move into Ben's old mansion after Mrs. Kanker is given the job of the mayor's new secretary. However, while Lee and May are enjoying living in the lap of luxury, Marie is not happy at all, that is, until she meets a new friend named Lucinda.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Start

**Author's Note:**

> Rewrite and new plan for my sequel story.

It was nearly a day of celebration for most when the Kanker sisters were moving away and going to a town known as Oakhaven. Somehow, their mom actually managed to get a job, but mostly as Mayor Corey's secretary. Hey, at least it was a stable enough job to actually afford them somewhere nice to live instead of a rusty old trailer. 

"Are you sure you wanna live in that mansion, Mrs. Kanker?" Mayor Corey asked the crooked single mother of three daughters. "That was Ben Ravencroft's very own home before he destroyed himself."

"Hey, it'll be fine and as long as I can feed my children something other than frozen food to heat up in the microwave," Mrs. Kanker snorted as she popped another cigarette in her mouth. "Now hand over the keys so we can get settled in, the girls have been cranky all day since I woke 'em up at the crack of dawn just to get here by suppertime."

"Well, okay," Mayor Corey smiled. "If you need anything, let me know."

"Will do... See ya in a couple of days for my first day," Mrs. Kanker took the keys and went to her nearly broken down car and lugged her daughters out to show them to their new home. "Welcome home, girls!"

The Kanker sisters all yawned and looked around, this place wasn't half bad.

"Hey... Check out this digs, girls..." Lee told her younger sisters.

"Wow, this looks a lot better than our home bathroom!" May said as she looked to the bathroom.

"Ma, you really think movin' in a dead guy's house is a good idea?" Marie asked. "I mean, I've seen movies like this..."

"Marie, nothing bad is gonna happen now quit your worryin'." Mrs. Kanker slightly scolded.

"Yeah, ya baby!" Lee spat at her.

May giggled. "Good one, Lee!"

"Shut up, May!" Lee then hit her.

"It's the good life for us now, girls..." Mrs. Kanker smiled once she saw exotic foods on display. "Who knows? Maybe you'll actually make friends..."

Marie scoffed, she then decided to explore, she saw the portrait of Sarah Ravencroft and rolled her eyes. "What a lie..." she grumbled, having heard of the others in their adventure against the witch's ghost of Oakhaven.

"I miss my big Ed!" May wailed.

"Ah, you'll get over it..." Lee scoffed. 

May cried, putting her hands to her eyes as she bawled.

"Quit your cryin'," Mrs. Kanker sounded uncaring this time. "Why don't we have rich meatloaf for dinner instead of that old microwave macaroni and cheese, huh?" 

May sniffled, she was going to miss Ed, but maybe she would get over it. 

"Whateva..." Marie walked away from her family, she didn't miss Double D, she just hated that she was stuck with her horrible family again.

"What's yer problem, Marie!?" Lee yelled to her.

"NUNYA!" Marie hissed back.

Lee was a little shocked. "Don't you dare talk back to me like that!" she then scolded her.

This made the Kanker sisters get into an argument with each other while Mrs. Kanker tried to tune them out by making an actually nice dinner for the family for a change. 

"I hate moving and I hate bein' here!" Marie snarled as she went to find her own bedroom since the girls didn't have to share one room together anymore. She slammed the door once she got into one. Hopefully her new school would be better. "God, I hate this, I hate it here, I wanna go back!" 

"Hey..." There was a girl with silky black hair with golden eyes, wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt with a red dress jumper with lighter blue tights and black dress shoes. "You look like you could use a friend..."

Marie looked surprised at the girl, then scoffed. "What's it to you? What're you doing here anyway? Who are you?"

"My, my, so many questions for someone your age," the girl smirked, climbing through the window and coming closer to her. "I'll tell you what, I'll be your friend."

Normally Marie would've shrugged that off or drop the girl like a bad habit, but since she was becoming more friendly with people despite Lee and May being related to her, her expression softened to a pleasant smile. "Whoa, really?" she then asked, thrilled, surprised, and excited, all at once.

"Yeah... You going to the school?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, I think we start the day after tomorrow." Marie shrugged.

"Well, I'll be your friend," the girl smiled, friendly enough. "What's your name?"

Marie gave her name to this stranger.

"Nice name... I'm Lucinda, but you can call me Luci." the girl gave her name.

"Um, okay, Luci..." Marie nodded. "But wait, how did you get here?" she then asked suspicously.

"Let's just say I have my ways..." Luci seemed to be hiding something as her eyes flashed a little, but not affecting Marie in any way. "So, you wanna be friends?"

Marie actually looked excited, someone wanted to be her friend and Lee or May didn't even ruin it. "Yes, I really would!"

"MARIE, GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE!" Mrs. Kanker screeched from downstairs.

"Well... I better be on my way..." Luci patted Marie's blue head. "See you around, Marie... I really hope to see more of you." she then giggled and climbed out from the window and got herself home.

Marie smiled, she was in a much better mood and she went down to eat dinner with her so-called family.

"Marie, what's with you?" May glanced to her. "You're smiling... You never usually do that!"

"Shut up, May." Marie narrowed her eyes to her younger sister.

Mrs. Kanker dropped a plate of food in front of them.

"Wow Mom, that looks great!" Lee was impressed.

"Yeah... There was a cook book in one of the cupboards." Mrs. Kanker chuckled, sliding off her oven mitts.

May tasted her food and smiled. "Wow Mom, this is really great!" she cheered in appreciation. "You're the best!"

Mrs. Kanker chuckled. "Enjoy it while you still have your sense of taste and smell, girls..."

Marie was hoping to see Luci again soon as she ate her dinner which was actually good tasting and didn't come from a wild animal.

"So girls, what do you think of our new house?" Mrs. Kanker prompted.

"It ain't half bad," Lee smiled. "Is it true that the guy who grew up in this mansion is dead now?"

Mrs. Kanker put her current cigarette against the table to burn it out and finish it until after her meal to get a new one to intoxicate her lungs. "Yeah..."

"Are we gonna get haunted?" May got worried.

"Ghosts ain't real, stupid." Lee scoffed.

"She's right, if ghosts was real, your granny would still be hauntin' me." Mrs. Kanker grumbled.

Then the doorbell rang and Mrs. Kanker answered the door and it was Mayor Corey and his daughter, Taylor Corey.

"Hello and good evening, Mrs. Kanker." Mayor Corey greeted the new woman.

"Oh, hello..." Mrs. Kanker wiped her mouth. "Uhh... Who's this?"

"This is my daughter, Taylor." Mayor Corey introduced.

Taylor hid flinches from Mrs. Kanker's foul smokey breath, but did her best to smile. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am." she forced herself to say.

"Yeah, yeah... What can I do you for?" Mrs. Kanker asked the mayor.

"We were just checking to see how you were doing," Mayor Corey smiled, then smelled something which quickly got his attention. "What's that delicious smell?"

"I just made meatloaf for me and my daughters." Mrs. Kanker replied, still looking a little dull, due to how she was.

"It smells amazing," Mayor Corey smiled. "Could we have a taste? We haven't had dinner yet." he then chuckled.

"Eh... Why not?" Mrs. Kanker shrugged, allowing them to take some of the dinner as their own.

Taylor looked at the Kanker sisters. "Umm... Hello, I'm Taylor Corey." she introduced herself, trying to be polite.

May and Lee looked to her, not really saying anything and went back to eating, their mother didn't even scold them for being rude.

Marie looked to Taylor however. "Um... Hi... You're the mayor's daughter, huh?" she then asked. "What's it like?"

"It's okay, I guess," Taylor shrugged. "But I knew two people I met... One of them is related to one of the Hex Girls."

"Oh, that's cool." Marie shrugged, but did smile.

May and Lee were annoyed with Taylor despite that and tried to ignore her.

"Where are you guys from?" Taylor asked then.

"A bunch of miles back there," Marie gestured backward with a slight scoff. "We used to live in a trailer park."

"I guess that didn't work out for you, huh?"

"Well, it wasn't easy most of the time..." Marie felt like she was on a roll, she made two new friends in under an hour. "We were kinda poor..."

"Poor?" Taylor asked, genuinely concerned.

"Well, you know, it was just us and Mom," Marie explained. "She didn't really have a job and just did whatever she could to earn money ... We were often home alone with each other most of the time, we didn't have a lot of room in our old home either! I mean, there was one bedroom, but I had to share a bed with 'TweedleDum and TweedleDumber'." she then whispered the last part, hoping her sisters wouldn't hear that.

"Oh, wow, I'm sorry to hear that," Taylor pouted. "I guess your friends are missing you back home?"

Lee and May were distracted by their new TV.

"I guess..." Marie shrugged. "Hey, Taylor... Do you know about the guy who used to live here but died in a freak accident?"

"Oh, yes, his name was Ben Ravencroft, the famous horror writer," Taylor informed, remembering that night very well. "Have you heard of him?"

Marie tried to think. "I think I probably have... I'm not sure... Name sounds familiar..."

"Well, he lived here before... I thought he was a nice guy, until..."

Marie was a little nervous, she bit her lip. "Until what?"

Taylor bit her lip slightly as well. "Could we talk about this in private?"

"Sure... Let's go to my new room." Marie invited, taking her up the stairs. 

Taylor followed the girl as Lee and May were lost in the world of television as they sat on the couch, they could actually have cable this time.

Marie opened the door, letting Taylor in and once the girl was inside, she shut the door. "Okay, what's up?"

"Okay, Ben told us, and by us, I mean me, the Mystery Inc, my best friend, Ashlyn, Cindy, Dawn, Trent, Duncan and Abby, that he was looking for his ancestor Sarah Ravencroft's journal, but really it was a spell book and Ben was a warlock, so he summoned the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft," Taylor explained the story of last year's autumn fest. "And, luckily Thorn and Dawn trapped both Sarah and Ben in the book because Thorn was 1/16 wiccan from her mother's side and Dawn was a moonchild. They needed both Wiccan and moonchild to trap them."

"Whoa..." Marie was blown away. "That's quite a story... Did that all really happen?"

"Yeah, you can ask my dad or Thorn's dad the pharmacist, they were all there..." Taylor's eyes went wide. "Luckily though, the book was burnt by a tree branch that was on fire and now Ben and Sarah are gone for good." 

"Yikes... Well, that's a relief... Too bad we can't send Lee or May back in it though." Marie smirked.

"Marie..." Taylor glanced at her.

Marie chuckled a little.

After about half an hour, Mayor Corey decided to take Taylor home as it was getting late and they decided to have the family settle in. Marie was just hoping she would see her new friends again very soon after she went to bed that night.


	2. Surprise!

Meanwhile, where our old friends were, they had a celebration, not just because the Kankers left, but because there was a surprise. 

"Mike... Why do I have to wear this thing?" Cindy asked as she followed Mike with a blindfold over her eyes. "Where are you taking me and how much longer until we get there?"

"Oh, you'll see." Mike chuckled.

Cindy sighed. "Well, I have to tell you, it's better than Maggie's surprise to me on my last birthday."

"What's that?" Mike asked.

"She said close your eyes and you'll get a big surprise... I woke up in the nurse's office with a bloody nose." Cindy explained.

Duncan's snicker was heard.

"It can't be worse than what Abby did to Jimmy one time." Brianna's voice was also heard.

"Hey, do you hear other voices?" Cindy pouted. 

"Aw, it's nothing," Mike let go of her and her footsteps seemed to disappear. "Okay... You can take off the blindfold now."

Cindy untied the blindfold from the back of her head and removed it to see all her new friends. 

"SURPRISE!!!!" 

Cindy let out a small yelp and was really surprised to see everyone there. "Wh-Wh-What is this!?" she stammered a bit.

Buttercup flew in front of her. "Duh, it's your birthday!"

"I know, but do I really need a surprise party?" Cindy asked. "I don't like surprises."

"Sometimes surprises are a good thing." Bubbles smiled.

"Yeah, you've been in this town long enough." Blossom added.

"I didn't think you guys liked me that much..." Cindy had a small smile now.

"You're special to us, silly!" Ella hugged her.

"And don't worry about the cul-de-sac kids we dealt with them or in this case Duncan, Abby and Jo did." June added.

Cindy felt squeezed in the hug, but looked to Duncan and Abby. "What did you do?"

"You let us worry about that, kid..." Duncan pointed to her with a sincere smile. "No one's gonna ruin your special day as long as we're around." 

Cindy smiled. "Okay... Let's get this party started then."

Scott, Lightning, and Chicken were by the buffet table, talking to each other.

"So Scott," Chicken smirked. "How's it goin' with youse and Jade, huh?"

"It's really great," Scott smiled as he helped himself to some pigs in a blanket. "I think things are really gonna go my way from now on."

Chicken chuckled, giving him a high feathery five. "That's great! I knew youse could do it!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Scott rolled his eyes a bit, then looked a little nervous, but still happy. "Still a little hard to get used to her grandpa bein' Tumbleweed Tex and all."

"I know you can do it, sha-bam!" Lightning added as he dug into some chips.

"You should've seen it the other day, Courtney was bugging me about being her boyfriend, but, Jade stepped on and told that Little Miss CIT off." Scott grunted in memory.

"Courtney's got serious problems, man..." Chicken rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it." Scott agreed.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna challenge that Jo guy to an eating contest, you think I'm gonna win?" Lightning challenged.

"Sure if my cousin Sow could fly." Chicken laughed, playing with the 'when pigs fly' expression since Sow was a pig. 

Scott laughed with him on that.

"Time for flyin' lessons, piggies, cuz The Lightning challenges Jo to an eating contest!" Lightning declared.

"Oh boy..." Cindy got worried as she sat at a small table with the Powerpuff Girls to get to know them better. 

"I'll get the First Aid Kit." Buttercup scoffed.

Bubbles looked confused. "Why?"

"'Cuz Lightning just sent us his last will and testament..." Buttercup rolled her eyes.

"So Cindy, enjoying your party?" Blossom asked with a smile.

"Yeah, it's okay..." Cindy smiled, but she sounded a little scared.

"Cindy, what's wrong?" Blossom sensed the fright in her voice.

"Is this cuz we scared ya when you walked in?" Buttercup asked. "Listen, that was all Mike's idea..."

"No, it's not that... Just... Something else..." Cindy stared at the floor.

"Aw, don't worry, Cindy," Blossom cooed. "I'm sure it's nothing. Just enjoy the party."

Lightning walked over to Jo where she was, talking to Justine. "Hey Jo!" he called to the jockette.

Cindy went to get herself some snacks and take some home with her to give to her parents and Sledgehammer.

"Whatya want now, lobotomy brain?" Jo glanced to him.

"The Lightning challenges you to an eating contest!" Lightning challenged, then folded his arms with a smug smirk on his face. "Unless you're scared to do it." he then mocked.

Everybody except for Jo gasped then.

"Sure ya wanna do that?" Jo folded her arms. "I beat that so-called cadet all the time whenever Chef fed us!"

"So, you in or out?" Lightning grinned darkly to her.

"Totally in, but let's make it a little more interesting, huh?" Jo challenged.

"Ooooohhhhh...." the others oohed.

"What're ya thinkin'?" Lightning looked to her, knowing this was going to involve a bet.

"This is gonna be great." Eddy grinned.

"How 'bout loser has to go around town dressed like the Tooth Fairy for 24 hours?" Jo grinned darkly.

"Oh... Spicy, Elliot, spicy!" Lightning laughed, he then shook hands with her. "Okay, the birthday girl will be the judge."

"Yo Cindy, come over here!" Jo called.

"I'll be right there!" Cindy called. "Just a moment!"

Justine kissed Jo on the cheek. "Good luck." she mused.

"Don't I get a kiss for good luck from you too, Justine?" Lightning flirted.

Justine ignored that and walked off.

"Uhh... What do you guys wanna eat?" Cindy asked as she looked at the various food choices, due to it being her birthday, many of them were her personal favorites.

"Anything that involves meat, there's no way he can beat me with anything that involves meat, I'm the best meat eater ever, Sha-bam!" Lightning told her while gloating about Jo being the loser for the eating contest when he was going to be wrong, oh, so, wrong.

Jo rolled her eyes. 'Doesn't this guy ever learn to shut up?'

Cindy decided to get them hot wings and stacked a bunch on a high pile on a plate and walked over. She tried very hard not to trip and fall, she was so clumsy that it was bound to happen. However, by luck, she was actually able to set the plate down to Jo and Lightning without even falling. "Phew!" she wiped her forehead in utter relief. 

"Hot wings..." Jo grinned, rubbing her hands together. "Now we're talkin'."

"And don't worry, they're boneless so you don't have to worry about choking." Cindy told them.

"We need a referee!" Jo called.

"I can be a referee," Zoey volunteered. "If that's okay with everyone."

"Okay Zoey..." Cindy nodded to her, then went off again. "You guys start without me, I'm gonna get a drink."

Zoey looked worried about her, but then looked to Jo and Lightning. "Okay... Ready... Set...EAT!"

Jo and Lightning then started to stuff their faces with the wings as fast as they could.

"Cindy?" a voice came behind the birthday girl.

"GAH!" Cindy jumped back, looking to the source of the voice. "Dawn, you almost gave me a heart attack !" 

"I know, dear, I'm sorry..." Dawn tried to relax her. "I couldn't help but notice you seem a little more jumpy than usual... Is everything okay?"

"I-I'm fine, Dawn, really..." Cindy said as she accidentally put food in her glass and poured soda on a plate, obviously not fine.

"Your aura is changing from bright green to light yellow which means you're nervous about something." Dawn stated her business.

"Well... I guess I could tell you..." Cindy shook a little. "I've been having bad dreams lately..."

"Oh Cindy, you should know by now that dreams can't hurt you..." Dawn attempted to soothe the girl, being very motherly, even if she didn't grow up with her own mother. "What were they about anyway?"

Cindy gulped and looked into her eyes. "Ben Ravencroft..." She whispered the currently deceased horror writer they all faced last year who was gone now and couldn't come back, but ever since he showed his true colors, she had been terrified of him and not for his books, but for his evilness and hurting of others.

"Cindy, don't you remember?" Dawn had a small, comforting smile for the girl. "Thorn and I got rid of him, he's trapped in the spell book."

"I know but... He almost tried to take me with him..." Cindy shivered.

"It won't happen... Sarah's book was destroyed by a flaming branch, remember?" Dawn cooed. "Now stop that negative thinking... It's your party and you should have some fun."

Cindy sighed, she just had a strong feeling her nightmares might come true. "I guess..."

"Come on, let's go see how Lightning and Jo are doing." Dawn took Cindy's hand as the two kept eating their wings and Zoey was watching them closer than the others, being the referee.

"Give up, Jo!" Lightning snapped. "I'm gonna win, and win, and win!"

"Uh-huh." Jo smirked as she continued to eat, eat, and eat.

The two really went at it. Lightning ate one more, but then felt hot instantly, he was starting to pant.

"If you get a drink, you're out." Zoey warned him.

"Aw man," Lightning groaned, then looked at Jo. "How come you're not pantin' like the Lightning?!"

"I've been in hot wing eating contests since I was three," Jo replied, totally relaxed as she kept eating. "My stomach and lungs are like calinte proof." she then chuckled.

Lightning couldn't take it anymore, he ran out of his chair and chugged one of the liter bottles of soda to extinguish the wings.

"And the winner by default is Jo!" Zoey cheered with the others.

"It's not fair!" Lightning cried. "It's not fair!"

"Nice job," Justine came up to Jo. "That deserves a reward." she then jumped into Jo's arms and kissed her.

Jo wiped her mouth before holding Justine in her arms and laughed. "Life has been good to me... Guess we'll see ya tomorrow, Tooth Fairy?"

Lightning glared at her with tears in his eyes. "Lightning wants a do-over!"

"There are no do-overs in eating contests..." Zoey said softly.

"Aw come on, Cindy, back me up!" Lightning looked to the birthday girl.

Cindy shrugged. "Rules are rules, Lightning..."

Lightning grunted in anger, even Scott and Chicken were laughing. It was a very good birthday for Cindy and she was really enjoying it, she felt very lucky to have so many friends now.


	3. Slumber Party

Meanwhile, it was the end of the day in the public Oakhaven junior high school, there were unfortunately uniforms, but Marie just told herself that it could be worse. She went to her locker to get her things and when she shut the door, she gasped a little to see one of her new friends. 

"Hey Marie, wanna come over tonight?" Luci invited with a casual smile. "My parents are gone tonight and they said I could have one friend over. I got popcorn, CD's, movies... Everything!"

"Sure, my mom probably won't care if I go." Marie shrugged with a smile.

"Sounds great..." Luci grinned. "Sorry it seems sudden since you moved in and all, but I just thought you could use a little help."

"Yeah..." Marie smiled. "Too bad your parents only said one friend, I'd ask Taylor to come."

"Yeah, sorry about that..." Luci put her arm around the blue-haired girl. "Tell you what... If you have fun at my house, I'll make a slumber party some other week and she can come, how about that?"

"Sure, that sounds great!" Marie grinned now.

"Great..." Luci grinned. "Come right over at 6:30.. See you then!"

Marie smiled, she felt so glad she made a friend and now she was going to her first sleepover. Could her life get any better since moving away? Maybe going to live somewhere else from now on wouldn't be so bad.

"There you are, Marie," Lee smirked. "Who were ya talkin' to?"

"Yeah!" May added, snorting.

"A friend, unlike you..." Marie snorted.

"I don't see anyone!" May called out.

Lee hit the back of her head. "Stupid, she's obviously pretendin' like that weird home for invisible pals or whatever."

"She's not imaginary..." Marie growled. "At least I can make friends unlike you two freaks!" she then walked away from her bullying sisters.

Lee gasped, then turned angry really fast. "Like who? That Mike Mazinsky loser!?"

"Or that stupid boyfriend stealer!?" May added, referring to Dee Dee.

Marie growled to them. "Ah, go eat an ant sandwich!"

Lee and May looked at her go, then to each other and looked angry.

Marie walked off, but she was then grabbed by them and beaten up.

They finished off by dunking Marie's head into a toilet in one of the bathrooms and walked off.

"That takes care of that!" Lee laughed.

"Yeah, that'll teach her!" May smiled back.

Marie growled at her sisters and released her head at the toilet and ran out the bathroom ,then grabbed May by her hair and shoved her inside of the locker and then grabbed a trashcan and shoved Lee in it. "That will teach you!" she retorted, breathing heavily as she wrung her hair and took

a deep breath. She then tried to make sure no one saw her and she went off, leaving her sisters after she gave them a taste of their own medicine. 

Mrs. Kanker was gone to have a meeting with Mayor Corey with other members of the Oakhaven City Council, Lee and May just got themselves junk food with movies, and Marie just followed an address that Luci gave her and once she found it on her phone, she knocked on the front door to make it right on time.

Luci opened the door and smiled. "Ah Marie, great timing!"

Marie smiled and walked in. "Your parents leave already?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'm sure you'll meet a relative of mine sooner or later..." Luci shrugged as she shut the door behind Marie.

Marie wasn't sure what she meant by that, but shrugged it off so they could have some real fun. The girls did typical sleepover things such as giving each other makeovers, eating pizza, sharing stories with each other.

"Gosh Luci, this is the most fun I've ever had..." Marie smiled as they were now sitting in beanbag chairs. "I never really had a best friend before."

"Tell me Marie... Do you like Truth or Dare?" Luci asked.

"Yeah, that's my favorite game!" Marie chirped like a song bird on the first day of Spring, she wa so happy and excited to have a social life now.

"Why don't we play?" Lucie smirked.

Marie smirked back, this game was usually more fun with more than just two people, but it would work out. "Okay..."

The two played their game for a while.

"Okay,... One more... Marie, truth or dare?" Luci asked.

"Dare this time... I could use a little excitement before I go to bed." Marie smirked to her.

"Okay..." Lucie took out a burnt book and cracked it open, handing it to the blue-haired girl. "I dare you to read that."

Marie looked at the book. "What kinda book is this? Are these magic spells?" she asked.

"It's from a costume party..." Lucie chuckled. "Just read that spell." she pointed to where she wanted Marie to read.

Marie shrugged. "Silly dare... But okay," she then grinned. "Let the evil from the past Breathe again with fiery blast! Let the dark wind quiff the night. To blow away the force of light! Now I summon ancient power. This is evil's finest hour!" she then closed the book, looking to her new best friend, curiously. "What's that supposed to do anyways?"

Lucie grinned, a little evilly this time. "It brings a warlock back from the dead..."

Marie gasped at what her new best friend just said. "What!?"

Lucie laughed softly, and then evilly as the lights flickered and the wind became strong suddenly.

Marie was freaking out now. "What the heck is goin' on!?"

"DOOMSDAY IN OAKHAVEN!" Lucie grinned maliciously as thunder rumbled outside.

Meanwhile, Taylor was in her room, listening to her music until she heard something and she went to the window and the terrifying sight made her eyes widen. 

"Oh, no, that can only mean one thing..." Taylor was horrified, she grabbed her cell phone and quickly dialed an emergency contact number. "Come on, Ashlyn, pick up!" she pleaded.

Ashlyn groaned, she had gone to bed and she sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes. "Taylor, this better be good..." she mumbled, a little grumpy due to being woken up.

"Ash, I'm sorry for calling so late over there, but this is an emergency..." Taylor was very scared.

Ashlyn could sense the fear in the other girl's voice. "Taylor, what is it?"

"Someone has unleashed Ben Ravencroft from the dead and I'm not joking either!" Taylor explained in deep, deep horror.

"WHAT!?" Ashlyn was freaking out. "Please tell me this is a joke! I mean, Sarah Ravencroft's spell book was destroyed in a fire!"

"I know, but you have to believe me!" Taylor cried.

"You wouldn't lie to me, Taylor... I don't wanna believe it, but you told me, so I do... I just wanna know who's behind this, but we'll get to the bottom of this." Ashlyn promised firmly.

Marie ran out of Lucie's house, she knew she didn't like it, but she was going to go back home for the heck of it. Luci laughed wickedly as she brought hell on earth and she grinned, waiting for Ben to come back to life and come before her since she was the one who had brought him back to life.

Taylor saw Marie running. "Marie, quick, come in my house!" she called to the blue-haired girl.

Marie looked to Taylor and rushed to her, not caring she was in her pajamas.

Taylor helped her in and shut the door, locking it and wouldn't let anyone inside unless it were her father.

"Man... I didn't think sleepovers had spell books or summoning some dead guy!" Marie panted heavily.

"And to think we got rid of him," Taylor sighed, shaking her head. "We need help to destroy him once and for all."

"Who can we call around here?" Marie shrugged. "No offense, but I don't think your police officers can stop a warlock."

"Don't worry, I called Ashlyn and she's gonna try to get some help." Taylor tried to comfort the girl.

Marie sighed. "I just hope this doesn't get too dangerous with everyone we know."

Meanwhile, Cindy was lying in her bed, it was quite late for her and she had a big day at the party, her parents were out at work, but they promised that they would see her after school and they asked one of her older friends to come by in the morning to help her get ready for school. Sledgehammer was fast asleep in his cage, but also made sure Cindy would be okay as she slept home alone tonight.

Cindy got out of bed, rubbing one of her eyes, she went to the bathroom to get a drink of water, however, when she turned one knob, blood came out of the faucet. She freaked out and turned it off, then turned it on again and saw the crimson liquid again. "I must be more tired than I thought ..." she murmured to herself, then squeaked as she heard wicked laughter. "W-Who's there...?"

"Cindyyyy..." a voice drawled out her name.

Cindy shook chills down her spine. "M-Mom...? Daddy? Sledgehammer...?" she looked all around, the hairs on her neck standing on thin end. "Oh man... This feels like a scary movie... or a thriller video game or... A.... A..."

"Remember me, Cindy?" the voice tormented her. "Your favorite writer?"

Cindy's eyes widened. "No... No... You're dead!"

"I'm alive, deary, and let's just say I have unfinished business with you..." Ben taunted as he then appeared and kidnapped the little girl.

Cindy yelled out as she was taken away.


	4. Doomsday in Oakhaven

Ashlyn met with the others in the League.

Dexter yawned heavily as he stretched his arms and came with Dee Dee. "This better be important, Ashlyn... I was just finding out a new relativity that could rival Einstein." he hopped in the lead chair since he was in charge of the league.

"I'm sorry Dexter, but this is important," Ashlyn reported since she called everyone else that she could. "Ben Ravencroft has been awakened from the dead."

Dexter's eyes widened right then. "Pardon?"

"That's what my friend Taylor told me and she lives in his old hometown," Ashlyn continued. "Knowing him, he's probably back for revenge."

"But I thought Thorn and Dawn got rid of him once and for all?" Brianna spoke up. "I saw it..."

"I'm not sure how it happened either, but it has to be true... Taylor wouldn't lie to me." Ashlyn told them.

Double D yawned a little. "Are you positive, Ashlyn? Maybe you were just hearing things in your sleep..."

"No, Taylor wouldn't lie to me!" Ashlyn got angry again. "Believe me, if Taylor says Ben Ravencroft is back, then Ben Ravencroft is back!"

"She's telling the truth," Dawn came from behind Duncan and Abby. "It's all over her aura."

Duncan was just grouchy, he always was if he didn't get enough sleep.

"Please tell me this isn't happening..." Abby groaned.

"It didn't happen." Ed smiled.

"Cindy's nightmares have come true..." Dawn whispered in fear suddenly.

"We'll have to make sure nothing happens to her then..." Dexter said sleepily, but still serious. "Tomorrow, I want one group to go to Oakhaven with Jade, because she'll be taking the jet to escort you there and I want another group to watch Cindy." he then ordered them. 

"Yes, Dexter." the others agreed.

"But what about school?" Dee Dee asked.

"No offense, Dee Dee, but I think this is a little more important than our education." Mike spoke up.

"She's right, Dee Dee." June agreed with Mike.

"All right, we need a couple of volunteers to go to Oakhaven," Dexter demanded, looking to the members. "Any volunteers?"

"Well, I'm totally going." Ashlyn volunteered, though everyone else looked worried and afraid of going back to that place if Ben rose from the dead.

"I'll be going as well." Dawn joined in.

"Me too." Brianna included herself.

"If Bri is going, then I'm coming." Trent added.

Duncan and Abby looked to each other, and then volunteered themselves by raising their hands in the air, tiredly.

"No dead guy is gonna scare me," Buttercup pounded her fists together. "I'm comin'."

"Same here." Sky yawned a little.

Blossom and Bubbles wished Buttercup luck.

"I better stay here to keep an eye on things." Mike volunteered herself.

"Good... As for the rest of you, I want you to help Sledgehammer keep an eye on Cindy," Dexter told the others. "I've been hearing that she has suffered from nightmares since you stopped Ben's ancestor. Go back home and get some rest and the jet will come by 6:00 before the sun comes up, make sure you're well rested and all packed by then." he then commanded.

Back in Oakhaven...

"Thanks for letting me stay here, Taylor..." Marie said as she wore a blanket due to having a tank top and her undies as her pajamas and she was now very cold. "What was with that Lucie girl anyway? I thought she was my friend..."

"Luci who?" Taylor asked her.

Marie tried to think, then hummed. "Ya know... She never actually told me her last name... Her name's short for Lucinda though... You don't hear that name very often."

"That name sounds familiar, but I don't know from where though..." Taylor went into deep thought.

Marie shrugged. "Taylor, are we gonna die?" she asked sadly.

"Don't worry... The League will save us..." Taylor soothed her.

Lucie looked out the window from the top floor of the house she was in as she watched at the sky turned blood red and she grinned darkly, she was now waiting for Ben to come see her.

Then Taylor's phone rang and she picked it up. "Hello."

"Hey Taylor, how are you doing?" Ashlyn asked, both worried and casual.

"Well, the whole sky turned blood red and Marie is staying with me." Taylor informed.

Marie took the phone, freaking out. "YOU BETTER HAVE THE POLICE, THE AIRPORT, AND AN EXORCIST COMIN' WITH YA!"

"Marie, calm down, it's gonna be okay, we're professionals!" Ashlyn tried to calm her down. 

"You better be..." Marie was freaking out. "Because I am not going to my first prom with a corpse in the Underworld!"

"Calm down, the League will be coming tomorrow morning." Ashlyn tried to get her to calm down.

Marie and Taylor looked to each other nervously. Could they survive a few hours until the league would show up? They had no choice.

"I'll call the minute we come into the town square." Ashlyn promised.

"Thanks Ash, we're just kinda edgy right now," Taylor said as she held the phone. "We'll see you then."

"See you then, Tay." Ashlyn replied before hanging up to get ready for her new mission.


	5. Bad News on a Bad Day

The next day the group that was leaving for Oakhaven were waiting for the jet to pick them up.

Buttercup looked to Brianna. "So, who's Ben Ravencroft?"

"He was a famous horror writer from this town," Brianna explained the best she could. "He was pretty good... I wasn't really a fan fan of him, but his stories were pretty scary... He's even scarier when he has powers that can kill innocent mortals."

"Is that the guy that Cindy always talked about?" Buttercup tried to think of where she heard that name before.

"Yep," Trent nodded. "He was also a warlock."

"How'd that happen?" Buttercup asked.

"Because his ancestor was a witch, he tricked us all..." Trent got angry, then looked a little sad. "I felt really bad for Velma and Cindy when we found out..."

"Especially little Cindy... She really looked up to him..." Sky was also sad for the younger girl. "I hope she's okay."

"We will stop Ben Ravencroft again once and for all!" Ashlyn promised.

Buttercup looked determined too as she flew the jet closer and closer to Oakhaven, faster than it would be than driving there in a car.

Dawn knocked on the door to Cindy's home and waited for an answer.

Shelly sniffled and had her glasses taken off as her eyes were red and puffy and she opened the door. "Oh... G-Good morning, Dawn..." she said in between tears.

"Something the matter, Mrs. Butler?" Dawn frowned since the woman was obviously upset.

Shelly wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, Dawn... I don't know who did it, why, or how... But someone's kidnapped Cindy..."

Dawn's eyes widened then. "When was she kidnapped?"

"We're not sure... We think maybe last night..." Shelly sounded heartbroken. "There's no note or anything, but we know Cindy wouldn't open the door unless we would call her in advance to unlock the door for us when we were riding in late last night."

Dawn hugged the woman. "Don't worry, Mrs. Butler, you have the league on your side and we'll make sure that we rescue her."

Shelly sniffled. "Thank you so much..."

"This is all my fault," Sledgehammer came out the door as Shelly went to get some ice tea for herself. "I promised Dexter I'd look after Cindy and now she's gone!"

Dawn then pet the possum. "There, there, it's alright..." she soothed.

Sledgehammer groaned, putting his paw to his face. "Why did I have to eat all these boneless wings she brought home with her?"

"I'll just contact Dexter to see what we shall do," Dawn offered, she then took out her communicator. "Dexter? Come in, Dexter!"

"You think this Dexter boy will help us?" Shelly asked, her voice breaking slightly.

Dawn nodded and looked back to her device. "Dexter, this is Dawn, do you copy?" she asked to report the latest information with him. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What is it, Dawn?" Dexter asked from the other end.

"I have some terrible news," Dawn frowned. "Cindy was kidnapped last night."

"Please Dexter!" Shelly looked to the communicator. "Please save my baby girl!"

"We'll try, ma'am," Dexter told Cindy's mother. "We'll try the best we can do... Why don't you get some rest?" he then advised.

"Thank you, I will." Shelly agreed and walked off to go to her bedroom.

"What should we do, Dexter?" Dawn whimpered.

"All we can do is hope that Ben doesn't destroy Oakhaven and then the world." Dexter advised.

Dawn sighed, she hung up for now and decided to pray to Mother Earth, hoping things would go well and be pleasant for Cindy's sake. Sledgehammer didn't often believe in it, but he joined her in the quest for spiritual relief.

Lucie sat at her windowsill with her knees up and she hugged them, soon enough, the evil warlock of a horror writer joined her. "Nice to see you again..." she then smirked a little devilish as him.

"Hello dear, how are you?" Ben greeted, he was very thrilled to go back and this time, he was going to do a whole lot better than when he tried to summon Sarah back from the dead.

"Great now that you're here..." Lucie grinned, hugging him and he hugged her back.

"How did you bring me back?" Ben had to ask. "I was pulled back with Sarah and a branch that was on fire burnt the book, sending us both straight to Hell with Simone Lenoir."

"I know... But I found the book..." Lucie said as she held his old eyeglasses in her hands, they had been shattered in the glass now. "After your enemies left, I found the book and saved it from being turned into ash and rubble."

"Thank you, sweetie, for bringing me back," Ben was grateful to have had her. "I wish we could bring Simone back because she wants revenge on that Justine Reid girl for getting Lena to betray her."

"I don't know how to bring non-witches and warlocks back yet..." Lucie said apologetically to him. "You won't believe what I had to do to bring you back... This new girl moved in and I invited her over and got her to read the spell to bring you back."

"Who is it?" Ben queried.

"Marie Kanker, her mom got a job here as Mayor Corey's newest secretary." Lucie informed.

"Hmm... Interesting..." Ben didn't sound all that impressed. "I brought my number one fan back with me... Her name is Cindy Butler."

"Oh?" Lucie asked.

Ben conjured Cindy up in his hands, using black magic to bring the girl over. Cindy was tied up with tape over her mouth and she struggled to get free.

"That's Cindy?" Lucie sounded unimpressed as well.

Indeed it is..." Ben showed the girl and ripped the tape off.

Cindy yelped, sniffling, that really stung, she then looked to Lucie. "Who... Who are you?" she asked, never seeing this girl before and why was she enjoying the wreaked havoc with Ben?

"My name is Lucinda." Luci introduced herself.

"Lucinda?" Cindy asked.

"My daughter..." Ben grinned darkly.

Luci grinned back. 

"I didn't know you had a daughter!" Cindy was surprised at Ben.

"Nobody knew, I doubt that moonchild ever knew either!" Ben scowled.

"I can't believe people don't know who I am..." Luci folded her arms, narrowing her eyes. 

"You're in my personal biography..." Ben tried to soothe her. "Anyway... No one is going to save this world... My year of training in literal Hell has prepared me for this..."

"What do you want with me though?" Cindy asked, wondering why she was held hostage.

"When I rule this world, I'm going to trap you and your friends in the spell book forever!" Ben grinned sadistically.

"No, you can't do that!" Cindy cried out.

"Oh yes he can!" Luci grinned just as evil as Ben was.

Cindy screamed as they both laughed.


	6. Old and New Faces

The jet was flying, but they needed to stop briefly and get more fuel as it was slowly running out of gas.

"Man, you'd think Dexter could make a jet that doesn't need regular gas..." Buttercup growled as she pumped the gas.

An old woman with graying red hair walked along, passing them. "Oh my... That reminds me of the jets I saw in the war."

"Umm... Boss?" a clerk spoke up inside the station. "There's a big jet in our gas station."

"That's nice..." the boss ignored that as he read a magazine behind his desk.

The League members went to stretch their legs, get snacks, or use the bathroom until they would be back on the road.

"Where are you kids headed?" the old woman asked Buttercup.

"We're on official business, lady," Buttercup looked back at her. "Sorry, but it's business... Our friend Cindy got kidnapped by Ben Ravencroft. I know it sounds crazy, but that's what happened."

"Did you say Cindy?" the woman asked. "Would this girl happen to wear glasses and she does really well in school."

Buttercup looked back at the woman. "Yeah? What do you know?"

The woman smiled a little. "I'm her grandmother."

"No way," Trent gasped. "Are you serious?" he then asked in disbelief.

"I didn't know Cindy had a grandmother?" Brianna added.

"She doesn't know about me that much..." the woman replied calmly. "And did you say the name Ravencroft?"

"Yes, ma'am," Trent nodded. "Ben was a horror writer and Sarah was a witch in Oakhaven."

"I know..." the woman looked angry now. "I was there when Sarah was prosecuted and the townspeople called her a witch."

"We went to Oakhaven with Ben and he was looking for his 'journal', but really it was a spell book and he brought back Sarah Ravencroft, then Dawn and Thorn trapped him in the spell book with Sarah." Brianna brought the woman up to speed with last year's tangle with the horror writer.

"I see..." the woman observed.

"How would you know Sarah Ravencroft back then?" Buttercup asked. "No offense, lady, but I don't think you're that old."

"Oh, but I am..." the woman chuckled. "I know I don't look it much, but I'm over 300 years old."

Trent's eyes widened. "You're Malovea Youngblood..."

The woman nodded. "Yes, some think I'm a legend... I changed my name to Mary Ruth once I met Cindy's grandfather and we had our two children. I even had to fake my death... I was also looking for Sarah Ravencroft's spell book so I could burn it and that her rotten great-great grandson wouldn't find it and summon her back once he found out about his true heritage. He was always such a spoiled and stubborn boy."

"Who's Malovea Youngblood?" Brianna looked at Trent. "And how did you know?"

"I heard a campfire story about her once," Trent explained. "Her own mother abandoned her after her birth and was raised by a strict and unloving caretaker. It wasn't until Malovea went to school and proved to be wise beyond her years, she was smart enough to start school at age four and she graduated at 16. She even had such intelligence that gave her supernatural powers like telekinesis, bewitching, and spell casting, but she never believed in using her powers for violence. She married a mortal, finally escaping the woman she was forced to call her mother and they had two children, one biological, and one adopted."

"And the adopted one is Cindy's mother." Mary Ruth confirmed.

"So, who's your biological daughter then?" Ashlyn asked.

"Cindy's aunt Barbara," Mary Ruth informed. "She has my powers too, but she just chooses not to use them since she has her own family as well."

"Well, since you're a witch, no offense, but, we should tell you that we're not normal people either." Sky stepped in.

"I could tell..." Mary Ruth smiled. "I've been watching over in secret... My granddaughter has really grown and blossomed into a mature young lady and she's lucky to have friends like you."

"Cindy talks about you sometimes..." Buttercup said to her. "Like, you're her hero or something."

"Well, that makes sense... I was the only grandparent she got to meet and I left the family shortly after she had been born..." Mary Ruth sighed. "I wanted to be there to grow up with her, I really did, but I didn't want her and her family to get hurt."

"I know how it feels to lose someone." Sky said softly as she looked to her necklace and thought of her mother again.

Mary Ruth looked to the necklace, not taking it off, but looked curious. "I assume your mother or father gave you that..."

"Mother," Sky confirmed. "It was a birthday present when I was five."

"At least you've had a loving mother..." Mary Ruth said softly.

"You probably didn't know her, but my mother's name was Theresa Podemski," Sky informed. "She was part of the Wolf-Shadowed People."

"I've heard about them, but the one I knew really well was Miranda Wolfe." Mary Ruth gave a short nod.

Two boys came out of the gas station and saw Abby and Brianna, their mouth dropped open and ran to the two teen girls.

One boy put his arm around Abby. "Hey babe, my name is Mark, and I'll be your dream boat forever."

The other boy looked at Brianna and winked at her. "I'm Jackson, nice to meet you, dollface."

"HEY, HANDS OFF!" Duncan got protective of Abby once the boy named Mark tried to woo her.

"You better back off..." Brianna advised Jackson.

"And why is that, dollface?" Jackson still swooned her.

"I have a boyfriend."

"Oh yeah, who?"

Trent cracked his knuckles, showing a rare display of brute force and anger. "Me..."

Jackson looked to Trent.

"I don't want to have to hurt you." Trent threatened.

Jackson scoffed. "What can you do, Elvis?"

"I'm not stealing other people's girlfriends like you." Trent snarled as he got his guitar.

"Oh, serenade us, huh?" Mark laughed. "Have fun with that..."

Trent rose his hand with his pick and strummed the strings hard enough to make a sonic boom wave blast, making Jackson and Mark fly through the air. Mark and Jackson were then screaming.

Nice job, Trent," Brianna smiled. "Thanks."

Trent smiled to Brianna and put his arm around her.

"You all must get going," Mary Ruth told them after Buttercup got enough gas for the jet. "Who knows what Ben Ravencroft will do next?"

Ashlyn's communicator rang and she answered it. "Dawn, what's up?"

"I have some terrible news for you all," Dawn pouted. "Cindy has been kidnapped."

"What!?" Ashlyn fumed. "Who kidnapped her!?"

"Who do ya think?" Buttercup scoffed.

"Get back in the jet, we're running out of time!" Dawn cried.

"We just got some more gas, we're gonna be moving pronto!" Ashlyn replied.

"Don't worry, ma'am," Trent looked to Mary Ruth. "We'll rescue your granddaughter." he then promised.

"Thank you very much..." Mary Ruth smiled. "I know she's a gentle one... She's a lot like her father."

The others got into the jet and blasted so they could keep moving into Oakhaven.

"Bless their little souls..." Mary Ruth said quietly and gently with a small wave.

In Town Hall, Ben and Luci stormed over and went to the front desk.

"We would like to see the mayor right away." Ben told the new secretary.

"Do ya have an appointment?" Mrs. Kanker asked with her eyes shut as she filed her nails, not looking to see who was there.

"I know him and he's my old friend." Ben informed, very strictly toward the careless and troubled woman.

"You know the Mayor, Daddy?" Luci asked in surprise.

Mrs. Kanker also looked to Ben. "You know Mayor Corey, sir?"

"Why yes I do..." Ben grinned. "We have so much catching up to do."

"Mayor Corey, you have a visitor." Mrs. Kanker pushed on a call button.

'Send them in.' Mayor Corey replied calmly and sweetly, not knowing what he was about to get into.

Mrs. Kanker nodded and looked dully to the father and daughter bewitching team. "Go on in."

"Thank you..." Ben took Luci's hand and walked into the room with her.

"Hello, may I-" Mayor Corey asked in his friendly tone as always until he saw who had come in and he gasped in utter fright. "BEN RAVENCROFT! BUT YOU'RE DEAD! WE ALL SAW IT HAPPEN!"

Ben grinned with a dark chuckle. "Silly Ross ... I believe you forget how unpredictable I can be..."

Luci smirked as she stood alongside her father, folding her arms.

"W-What do you want, Ben?" Mayor Corey was very scared and nervous to see him again a year after the incident.

"Whatever you do, please don't hurt my little girl, please, Ben!" Mayor Corey turned into a coward instantly.

"Oh... I don't know..." Ben laughed at his fear.

"Please, I'll do anything you want, just leave me and my little Taylor be!" Mayor Corey got down on his knees, begging.

"Anything...?" Ben taunted, he loved the fear and new respect.

"Yes, yes, anything!"

"Bow before me..." Ben demanded. "There's a new overlord in town."

"Wh-What?" Mayor Corey looked up to him, shaking like a leaf.

"You heard him, we're ruling the world!" Luci sounded as violent and aggressive as her dad.

Mayor Corey looked to Luci. "Wh-Who are you...?"

"This little one is my pride and joy..." Ben gently stroked Luci's similar ebony hair. "Isn't that right, sweetie?"

Luci grinned darkly. "Daddy, I have unfinished business..." she then walked off. "You take care of the mayor... I have an old friend to visit."

Ben smiled as she went and smirked fiendishly to Mayor Corey as he was going to take control.

Luci went to Mayor Corey's home where Taylor and Marie were and kicked the door down, startling them both.

"Luci!" Marie looked hurt and angry with the girl. "Why did you make me do this? I thought you were my friend!"

"Yeah, like I'd really be friends with some reject from a trailer park!" Luci sneered.

"Now I remember you," Taylor got angry. "You're Ben Ravencroft's daughter!"

"Surprised to see me?" Luci gave a venomous grin that could rival her father's.

"Ben Ravencroft has a daughter?" Marie asked. "I don't remember that."

"NOBODY DOES!" Luci snarled. "Of course not... Big shot author daddy doesn't have time for his little girl!"

"But I remember you," Taylor was still mad with the girl. "I knew that if you were Ben's kid, you had to be evil like him!"

"Oh... Evil is genetic, isn't it?" Luci scoffed. "You can't know what it's like to be related to a bully and everyone thinks you're one just cuz you have the same blood."

Marie actually could relate to that.


	7. Enter the Discord

Cindy was in a black room, there was barely any light , she looked around and felt very nervous. "Where am I now?" she asked, her voice echoing. "Is someone there? Anybody...? Hello... Please tell me that this is a dream and none of this ever happened!"

"Oh, I'm afraid it's all too real, dear..." a voice laughed.

"Ben, if that's you, stop it, I'm scared enough already!" Cindy yelled through frightful tears.

Suddenly, there came a familiar dragon-like mutant with beady red eyes, horns, white fuzzy eyebrows, a beard, a bird claw with a lion paw for the other arms, a long dangly tail with a pair of feet.

"D-D-Discord..." Cindy backed away from him and fell against a corner.

"Hello, my dear." Discord laughed to her.

"You're not real though..." Cindy crouched away from him.

"Oh, but that's the powerful thing about imagination," Discord grabbed her, threw her in the air and then held her again, pinching her cheeks with his clawed paws. "Anything you dream up becomes reality..."

"Imagination?" Cindy asked. "What's my imagination got to do with this?"

"You really want to know?" Discord questioned.

Cindy was a little scared. "Umm..." 

"That warlock has brought your imagination to life..." Discord smiled, then narrowed his eyes as he got deep into her face. "Your nightmares are real... Welcome to your own personal Hell."

Cindy screamed out as she was trapped in her own mind.

"But there is one way to get out of your personal Hell," Discord chuckled. "But just one way."

"What is it?" Cindy was desparate and afraid. "Tell me, Discord, please just tell me!"

"My, my, impatient, are we?" Discord glanced down to her. "All right... The only thing that can stop this are..." he then shuddered and looked long-suffering. "Happy thoughts... Do you think you can do that?"

"H-Happy thoughts?" Cindy shook, still frightened.

"Yeah, yeah, your happy thoughts..."

"I don't have any..." Cindy was scared and felt miserable, not even her guilty pleasured favorite My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic character could cheer her up.

"Don't you have friends or family who always make you happy?" Discord suggested.

"I guess ..." Cindy folded her arms, sitting next to him.

"Then think about them as your happy thoughts..."

"Why are you helping me?" Cindy looked to him.

"I don't know..." Discord was puzzled for once in his life. "It feels like I wanted to... But after this, I'M NOT HELPING EVER AGAIN!"

Cindy flinched from his yelling and tried to calm herself down.

"Well, what are you waiting for!?" Discord shook her. "Think of your happy thoughts!"

"I'm trying..." Cindy tried to concentrate, she went into a meditating pose Dawn had taught her.

"Come on, kid, think harder!"

Cindy held her head as she tried to think positively. This might take a while since she has been through so much in her life.


	8. Obnoxious Gas

The jet ended up in Oakhaven and it looked like it had gone to heck in a hamster ball.

"Man, this place looks like Hell..." Buttercup commented.

"I hope Taylor is okay..." Ashlyn whispered to herself, deeply concerned for her childhood best friend.

"You go look for her, we'll look for anyone else." Buttercup suggested.

Ashlyn nodded, then went to the Corey house, remembering where it was.

"Yeesh.... What a dump..." Jo scoffed.

"We better stick close together." Justine advised for everyone, obviously going to go with Jo.

"Don't you two go making out now!" Eddy made a joke toward them.

Justine and Jo gave him a firm glare.

"Okay... Not funny..." Eddy tried to get them less angry with him. 

"Right, let's split up," Buttercup nodded. "Keep your communicators out for any feedback."

"You got it, Butterball." Duncan agreed.

"And... BREAK!" Buttercup called.

And with that, they all split up, going off into pairs, but Buttercup would go alone.

With Mike and Eddy...

"Mike, I need to tell you something," Eddy said softly to his ex-girlfriend. "Don't tell the boys, but... What if we can't beat Ben Ravencroft?"

"We will..." Mike assured him. "I actually know Ben a little."

"Really?" Eddy looked to her. 

"Well... Kinda... It wasn't until the others came back from here last year, but... I remember him," Mike looked into his eyes. "Eddy, this is a long and weird story, but back when my parents were still alive, they told me how they knew this guy... He even came to visit, I was a little baby at the time, but he used to look after Jen and Jamie."

"Did you know he was a warlock?" Eddy asked then.

"Not back then... But I knew there was something different about him..." Mike said as they walked together. "I couldn't figure it out back then... I hadn't seen him until I was three and we had to get a new babysitter because his first book was made into a success and he moved away with this girl he was seeing at the time and they got richer... Ben was already rich enough, but with his first book, he hit his own personal jackpot." 

"Man, I should be a writer..." Eddy mumbled.

"I heard that he has a daughter nobody really knows about or remembers..." Mike muttered. "After his wife died, he couldn't he couldn't raise his daughter alone, so he put her up for adoption."

"Who knows?" Eddy shrugged as they walked together.

Mary Ruth decided to join Buttercup, but there was a huge tree trunk in their way, possibly had been blown away.

"Stand back, old lady, I'll get this--" Buttercup offered.

However, Mary Ruth grabbed the trunk like it was a simple piece of wood and chucked it over her shoulder. "Come on now..."

Buttercup blinked, very surprised of that outcome. "Wow... So, you're gonna help us stop this crazy freak?" she then asked.

"I have to..." Mary Ruth looked back to her. "He has my darling granddaughter... We should meet again and I should let her know I'm alive... No child should be without their grandparent, I got that in common with Jasmine Lee."

"You know June's grandmother?" Buttercup asked as they walked together.

"Yes, when she left China, we became very close..." Mary Ruth smiled. "I helped guide her with that dog of hers, Monroe."

"Awesome." Buttercup smiled.

Jo and Justine were walking around, very close with each other, making sure they wouldn't get separated.

"I'm scared," Justine whimpered. "Really scared."

"Oh, don't worry... I'm here, nothing will happen..." Jo comforted her.

There was a little girl's giggle heard. Jo and Justine looked around and when they looked in front of them suddenly, there was Luci.

"Little girl, why aren't you inside?" Justine asked, concerned. 

"Yeah, it's like the apocalypse out here!" Jo added.

"Oh, don't worry... I'll be fine..." Luci smirked to them.

"Jo, Justine, get away from her!" Marie rushed over as fast as she could.

"Marie?" Jo and Justine looked to her in confusion.

It was too late, Luci took out a baby doll, Jo and Justine looked confused and charmed, however, the doll emitted a gas from its mouth. Jo and Justine coughed heavily before going into a deep sleep. 

Luci grinned evilly. "You're too late, blue hair! TOO LATE!"

"Noooo!" Marie cried. "Jo, Justine, one of you, come on, wake up, PLEASE!"

Justine couldn't wake up. Luci grinned and laughed wickedly.

"You bitch!" Marie hissed. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!"

"Nobody is gonna stop me!" Luci taunted. "Ta-Ta!" she then laughed and disappeared from thin air.

"Crap..." Marie muttered, she then looked and saw Justine was still not moving, but looked to see Jo was slightly stirring. "Jo?"

Jo opened one of her eyes. "Is she gone?"

"Jo... You're awake...?" Marie was surprised and confused.

"Yeah, I was holding my breath from that sleeping gas and I had to fake knocking out, that way she wouldn't know," Jo explained. "Who was that girl?" she then asked and looked to the blue-haired girl suspiciously. "You seem to know that girl pretty well..."

"She pretended to be my friend when we moved in," Marie explained. "She said she would, then she invited me over to have a sleepover and then we played Truth or Dare, the next thing I know, she's makin' me read an old spell book to wake up a warlock from the dead."

"Hmm..." Jo went deep into thought. "Hippie did say that evil is lurking, so I guess she's talking about her and that warlock author, plus Cindy was captured too."

"I'm sorry... She seemed so nice and no one's ever wanted to be my friend before!" Marie started to cry.

Jo actually looked rather sympathetic. "I know how that feels... I never had real friend before either."

"Really?" Marie looked to her. "Well, at least ya weren't stuck with Lee and May."

"My parents were never around all the time, in fact, they weren't ever my parents at all, I don't even know who my real parents are, I was alone with no friends and I thought friends were always slowing me down because everybody was afraid of me," Jo told her backstory. "Until I met Mike and Justine, I had a good feeling about them."

"Man... I'm so sorry..." Marie said softly. "My dad used to beat me up."

"What about Lee and May then?" Jo asked.

"May wasn't born yet and Butch had just left." Marie lightly scoffed.

Jo gaped at her slightly. "You call your own dad by his first name?"

Marie looked back at her gravely. "Butch wasn't my dad, Bubba was, then after he got sent to jail for domestic violence, soon enough, Mom met Rod and then May was born."

"You and I have a hard life, but not as hard as Justine." Jo said softly.

"Why?" Marie asked. "What's her life story?"

"Her dad died in a car accident when she and Justin were really young, when Justin got older, their mom sent him away to become a professional model, soon enough he auditioned for Total Drama Island when it was first coming on," Jo explained what she knew. "Andrea Reid is not a pleasant woman... She's barely even home anymore. I heard though if Justin won at the end of the season finale for Total Drama Island, he was going to spend it on his sister so they could both get away from their mother."

"At least she's got her brother," Marie put her hands in her pockets. "Life is never fair, is it?"

"That's just how things are sometimes." Jo nodded to her, carrying Justine in her arms. 

"How'd you guys meet?" Marie asked.

"It's complicated."

"Come on, you can tell me... I won't tell nobody, I promise."

"Okay, well I've met her when I heard a screaming one night and I saw Hunter Dastardly trying to flirt with her, you know Hunter Dastardly, don't you?" Jo then explained and asked. 

"Heard of him..." Marie nodded. "I just know his uncle's a real dick."

"What?" Jo looked at her.

"That's what I hear anyway." Marie shrugged.

"Actually, that's his name, but yeah... I had to stop it."

"Well... That's good..." Marie smiled, then frowned. "Ya didn't get hurt, did ya?"

"Nah," Jo shook her head. "But after I threatened him, I think he wet his pants and screamed like a little girl while running away."

Marie laughed a little at that story. "Um, what should we do with Justine?"

"Let's take her to your place and let her rest, then I could contact Li'l Hippie or Dragonfly to see what should we do," Jo suggested. "Umm... Where do you live?"

"Come on, I'll take you there." Marie led the way while Jo would carry Justine.

Luci saw this and got a little nervous, but she went back to City Hall where her father was.

Ben was laughing in victory as he sat at the desk with his feet up.

"Um... Daddy?" Luci smiled nervously. "Kinda bad news..."

"What is it, my dear?" Ben asked impatiently.

"Well..." Luci rubbed her arm, avoiding his gaze. "I tried to gas out Jo Elliot and Justine Reid..."

"Yes?" Ben looked to her.

"It didn't affect the Jo person..." Luci then revealed.

"WHAT, WHY!?" Ben growled.

Luci flinched at his sudden yelling. "I don't know, it just didn't work! It's like he or she was immune!"

"Well... No matter, there's more people to get rid of," Ben handed her the spell book first. "I want you to summon ferocious tigers and bears to get rid of these three." he then handed her photos of Brianna, Trent, and Sky.

Luci took the book and photos and flipped through the book to find that spell. "Yes sir."

"Excellent." Ben laughed wickedly like a true villain.


	9. Teens, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

Marie took Jo to her new house and they found Lee and May, still watching TV, Lee then turned around and saw Jo and Justine.

"What the heck is that stupid man lady and her lame brain girlfriend doin' here!?" Lee growled.

"MINDING THEIR OWN BUSINESS, YA SHOULD TRY IT SOMETIME!" Marie yelled back in Lee's face.

"DON'T EVER YELL AT ME AGAIN!" Lee yelled back, then she grabbed Justine from Jo's arms by the hair. "Yeesh, she's pathetic," she then smirked. "I think I'm gonna take her to meet the toilet!"

Jo took Justine back and she was about to clobber Lee then. Marie smacked Lee in the face and kicked her against May and they both crashed by the couch. 

"WHY, I OUGHTA!" Lee snarled as May was knocked out on top of her.

Marie took Jo upstairs to her room and slammed the door, locking it behind them. "Sometimes I wish my dad would make parole and take me away from them... But he's a lying, cheating, stealing dirt bag..."

"I wish I could've ripped her to shreds," Jo snapped, she then looked at Justine and put her on Marie's bed, touching her girl's cheek in sorrow. "Oh, Justine..."

Justine didn't move or wake up just yet, but she whimpered a little. Marie came over, looking worried for the girl just as well.

"Poor girl, she doesn't deserve it..." Marie had empathy.

There was a loud and aggressive knock at Marie's bedroom door. "MARIE, OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT NOW OR YOU'RE GONNA GET THE WORSE BEATING EVER!"

Jo growled. "Marie, let me handle Lee, you watch Justine, okay?"

Marie snarled in annoyance of Lee, but nodded firmly, she pulled out a chair and sat beside Justine. 

Jo opened the door and pinned Lee to the wall. 

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, MAN LADY!?" Lee snarled back.

"Leave us alone, you disgusting pig," Jo sneered to her. "It's no wonder Eddy hates you, I don't blame him, you stalker!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" Lee huffed. "Well, at least I'm not a freak and a loser like your stupid, lame brain, girlfriend!"

"Listen to me, I'm in a very bad mood, you wouldn't like it if I became angrier--" Jo's voice grew demonic and her eyes turned red. "THAN I ALREADY AM!" 

"I'm not afraid of you, Man Lady!" Lee snapped.

"Alright, but if you get in an accident, I'm not responsible for it." Jo threatened.

"What can you do!?"

"You asked for it..." Jo's voice got hellish.

Lee stood unimpressed for a moment, but however, Jo was changing.

Suddenly, there was Lee's scream heard followed by roars and howls.

"AW COME ON, LEE, MARIE'S NOT THAT TOUGH!" May called from downstairs, not knowing the real reason why Lee was screaming.

Suddenly, Jo's red eyes were seen in the dark.

"What the heck is that!?" May looked back, but then suddenly screamed too.

Marie was holding Justine's hand and gently stroking it, not in a flirty way, but to be comforting, Jo came back in and shut the door behind her. "What'd ya do to my sisters?"

"Don't worry, I didn't actually kill them, but they're stunned right now and will wake up tomorrow without any memory that I was the one who hurt them," Jo said, coming to her, then looked worried to Justine. "How is she?"

"Not very good," Marie frowned. "She keeps whimpering and I saw tears come in her eyes and kept saying yours and Justin's names."

Jo frowned, she then took Justine's hand and gently squeezed it. "Justine, we're gonna get help, I promise ... I promise..."

Justine squeezed Jo's hand back a little, but didn't wake up.

"Please... Someone help this poor girl..." Marie whispered, putting her hands together in a praying notion. 

Brianna and Trent held hands together and heard growling.

"Please tell me that was your stomach, babe..." Trent got worried.

Brianna bit her lip. "I wish it were..."

Then ferocious tigers and bears came out, growling at them.

"What the heck!?" Brianna wondered where they could have come from.

"Where did they come from?" Trent asked, worriedly.

"Should we fight them or run away!?"

"I know it's not a good idea, but.... RUN!" Trent yelled out.

The two ran for their lives as the tigers and bears ran after them. Trent ran as fast as he could until one of the tigers caught him and made him fall.

"TRENT!!!" Brianna screeched for him.

Trent crouched up against a corner as the tiger that caused him to fall raised his paw up and was ready to strike him down.

Brianna kicked the tiger away from Trent. "Stay away from him, you furball!"

The tiger yelped and growled to her. Then the bear grabbed Brianna from behind 

"Let me go!" Brianna grunted from the bear's grasp. "I said let me go!!"

Trent looked to see the tiger was gone, but he looked outraged as he saw the bear with Brianna. He had to think fast, but what could he do? He stood up the best he could and looked serious. 'Think Trent...' he thought to himself. 'What would Dad or Granddad do in a time like this?'

"If you don't let me go, I'll do something to ya, you dumb bear!" Brianna promised with more struggling grunts.

Trent saw a tree that carried a wasp's nest. "Brianna, when I say go, run to me!"

"What?" Brianna asked, not seeing his plan.

"Just trust me!" Trent pleaded.

Brianna then nodded and stopped her struggling.

"Hey, Bear!" Trent called to the animal. "You want some nice and sweet honey?"

The bear seemed to drool then and let go of Brianna. 

Trent threw the nest to the bear, letting the bear lick and eat against the honeycomb. "GO!"

Brianna and Trent then ran as the bear had the honey, but wasps swarmed out and started to chase him and sting him painfully.

"Wow, that was amazing, Trent." Brianna smiled and awarded him with a kiss on the cheek.

Trent blushed as he held Brianna. "Thank my Granddad for whenever he took me camping during the summer when I was a kid."

Brianna smiled to him as they could keep going on.

Luci watched them go with the bear and the tiger defeated. "Oh... I hope Daddy didn't see that..." she said quietly to herself.

"I did..." Ben came behind her with a slight sneer.

Luci let out a scream and looked up to him. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm doing wrong!"

"Well, I have the best plan ever," Ben looked to her. "Summon a werewolf to destroy--" he took out a photo of Sky. "Think you think you can handle that?"

"Summon a werewolf?" Luci tilted her head.

Ben nodded. "Werewolves are ferocious creatures who are tough, were, powerful creatures, you know what they are, right?" he then asked her as he was hungry for more chaos and dooming suspension upon the town and eventually, the whole entire world.

"I've seen movies..." Luci smiled back. "I'll get on it."

"That's my little girl..." Ben ruffled up her hair. 

Luci grinned as she got a hold of the book to summon the spell on Sky.


	10. Chaotic Thoughts

Meanwhile, deep inside Cindy's thoughts, she still struggled to think happy thoughts.

"Honestly, why can't you be more like Fluttershy?" Discord riddled her to pass the time on his own. "She has all those cute and fuzzy animals... And that rotten Angel Bunny."

"I'm working on it, okay!?" Cindy glared at him.

"Well then, keep trying, geez Louise..." Discord snorted with impatience.

Cindy grunted as she held her head and tried to think of the good instead of the bad. She then sighed a little sadly. "I wish my grandmother were here..." she whispered softly.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought." Discord sighed.

Back over at Marie's place, Dawn was over there after Marie and Jo explained to her what happened.

"So, you were attacked by a little girl that had a doll with deep gas in it?" Dawn then asked.

"Yeah, it was totally messed up!" Jo said to her.

"Only, I don't get how it didn't affect Jo..." Marie spoke up.

"Perhaps it didn't affect her because she's not technically a human, but anyway, this isn't a normal gas, it's actually a nightmare gas." Dawn informed them.

"Nightmare gas?" Jo and Marie asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Dawn sadly nodded. "Justine is suffering from the gas, did she have any side effects from it that I should know about?"

"She's just knocked out... She did call for Jo and her brother though." Marie said as she tried to make Justine a little more comfortable.

"I see..." Dawn's tone was anything but cheery as this was dangerously evil. "That's just one of the symptoms and if she keeps looking like this, one of symptoms is dangerous will occur."

"And that is...?" Marie questioned.

"Death." Dawn replied grimly.

"NO!" Jo snapped, holding Justine. "I won't let her!"

Marie looked to the moonchild. "For Jo's sake, please tell us there's a cure."

"Luckily for us, there is a cure, and the only way to do it is that one of us has to go into Justine's mind and snap her out of it, but you only will have a couple of hours to do it, if you can't suceed in time, then it will be too late." Dawn explained.

"I don't know her really well..." Marie wanted to help, but couldn't. 

Jo nodded to her. "What would we do?"

"I learned a spell from my father's book that you must hold hands, close your eyes, say the spell, then you'll change into a shadow and enter her mind," Dawn instructed. "Now, do I have a volunteer?" she then asked, though it was obvious which one of the other girls would do it. 

"I will, now can I count on you two to look after Justine?" Jo replied.

"We promise, Jo." Dawn and Marie vowed.

"Okay... I'm ready, Li'l Hippie." Jo agreed.

Dawn memorized the spell. "Lie down next to Justine, hold her hand and close your eyes." she then instructed.

Jo did just that.

"Now, before you go into your subconscious, repeat after me..." Dawn instructed.

Jo nodded. "Let's get this over with." she said as she gently squeezed Justine's hand.

"Are you sure you got this, Dawn?" Marie asked a little nervously.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing..." Dawn nodded to her. "You ready, Jo?"

"Ready!" Jo gave a thumb's up.

Dawn nodded, she then recited the Latin spell to Jo and suddenly a red violet zap emitted from the sky and zapped Jo's eyes, knocking her out instantly, but putting her into Justine's state of mind. 

"I'm comin', Justine!" Jo called once she was being drained away into Justine's mind.

Ben took the spell book from Luci and turned to another awakening spell and recited it. Suddenly, the fluffy clouds opened up and there came a glow of a black-haired woman and she was suddenly on Earth.

"What the heck happened...?" the woman looked around. 

"Hello, Miranda..." Ben greeted, going toward her.

Miranda looked to him with horror. "Ben Ravencroft!?"

Mike walking with Eddy, but had to stop.

"Mike, are you okay?" Eddy looked back at her.

"Fine... Just got a weird stomach ache..." Mike said as she held her gut.

"I think maybe something bad is happening..." Eddy had a hidden sense. "Maybe..." 

Meanwhile...

"What are you doing here, Ben!?" Miranda demanded.

"Oh, aren't you happy to see me?" Ben came closer to her.

Miranda backed away, very angry and scared. "You know I never loved you, Ben.... You were just a selfish and spoiled little brat who only did things for yourself!"

"My, my, I'm so intimidated," Ben mocked fear. "Well, let me tell you something, I'm going to take over the world!"

"Whatever happened to that Ortensia girl?" Miranda looked at him.

"She died..." Ben told her.

"So did I, besides, I love John, I did, do, and always will!" Miranda scolded him.

"Not at all if I capture you, you'll be my lover forever." Ben laughed at the girl he had been stalking since junior high school.

"I'd rather get sent to Hell than be with you..." Miranda narrowed her eyes at him, they flashed red, but she didn't shift into a wolf.

"How amusing..." Ben still laughed.

Meanwhile Dawn was mediating while Marie was nervous about Jo and Justine.

"Hey Dawn," Marie turned to the moonchild in concern. "You think Jo can do this?"

"I'm sure of it... My dad did the same thing for my mom before I was born." Dawn nodded.

Jo yelled and screamed as she was falling somewhere and landed on something that squeaked. "Ow... At least I landed on something soft.

"Get off of me!" Cindy muffled from underneath Jo.

"Wait a minute, I know that voice," Jo got serious. "Cindy!?"

"Jo, you're squashing me..." Cindy's voice strained.

"Oh, sorry..." Jo got up from her. "What're you doing here?"

"I don't know..." Cindy got up, dusting herself. "I remember getting a glass of water at my house... Then I woke up here." 

"I told you to think happy thoughts..." Discord spoke up.

Cindy glared at him, but looked to Jo. "What are YOU doing here?"

"It's Justine, she's in trouble, and I mean big trouble." Jo explained with full worry for her girlfriend.

Discord looked to Jo in disgust. "Who's this ugly looking man!?"

"WHAT!?" Jo snapped at him.

"Forget him... What kind of trouble?" Cindy asked.

Jo explained to Cindy everything that happened up until this moment.

"Oh Jo... I'm so sorry, I don't know where she could be..." Cindy said softly to her.

"Okay, thanks Cin." Jo sounded calmer now.

"Why is your girlfriend dying?" Discord asked, maybe he could help.

"Ben Ravencroft unleashed some Nightmare Gas on her... I have to find her and help her before she'll die." Jo explained.

Discord chuckled. "That's pretty funny."

"No, it's not!" Cindy glared at him.

"I think I might know where she could be..." Discord said to Jo. "Does she have black braided hair?"

"Yeah!" Jo's eyes widened, on the edge of her seat.

"Come with me then..." Discord walked off with a smug smirk. 

Jo went to follow. 

"Uhh..." Cindy stood by, unsure whether to follow them or not.

"You're coming too, little girl." Discord said, looking back at Cindy.

"This better not be a trick, otherwise I'll break some major organs, got it!?" Jo promised the draconequus.

"Trust me, I wouldn't hurt anyone..." Discord said, he then wrapped his tail around Cindy and carried her around as they would go.

"Oh, I hope Justine will be okay by the time we find her..." Cindy sighed.

"Me too, kid," Discord agreed. "Me too."

Discord took them where Justine was at and Cindy and Jo were shocked her appearance. Cuts and bruises all over her body and she was in fetal position with tears in her eyes, murmuring that it was all her fault.

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault..." Justine whimpered.

Cindy cupped her mouth, looking so shocked that it made her feel sick.

"JUSTINE!" Jo cried.

Discord took a picture of Justine. "This should go in my photo album."

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault..." Justine continued, now shaking.

Jo rushed to Justine. "Oh man.... Justine... Who's done this to you?"

"It's all my fault..." Justine could only say those four words. "It's all my fault, it's all my fault..."

"You can't wake her up, what's the point?" a voice called.

Everyone minus Justine turned around to find a young woman with long black hair with blue streaks, a scar under her left eye, wearing a skin tight black dress, blue jacket, black boots and green gloves.

"My name is Alisha." the stranger introduced herself.

"Did you do this to Justine!?" Jo demanded firmly.

Alisha chuckled more evilly than Discord. "Why should I tell you?"

Cindy came back, looking a little slower and more sluggish due to her sickness from the sight of Justine. "My stomach is on fire..."

"I love to see people in pain," Alisha laughed, then pointed to Justine. "Especially her."

Jo snarled. "I'll kick your ass if I have to!"

Cindy hid behind Discord, this girl seemed frightening.

Alisha merely chuckled. "I'm the one who made her see her brother and boyfriend dead and I told her it was all her fault."

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault..." Justine now had tears in her eyes.

"Justine, snap out of it, nothing is your fault!" Jo tried to calm her.

"There's nothing you can do, it's pointless!" Alisha merely laughed.

"I killed them... It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault..." Justine cried as she still shook.

Jo felt anxious, what could she do to solve this?


	11. Fairy Tale Ending

Meanwhile...

Dexter was trying to keep everything under control, but there was fire raining from the sky and there were bugs invading. No one could leave the places they were in since it was going to Hell in a hand basket.

"Ben, please stop, you're going to kill people!" Miranda cried to him.

"Big whoop," Ben laughed at her. "Hellooo, I'm a bad guy!" he reminded her, using bitter cold sarcasm.

"Daddy, I sent a werewolf out to attack the Sky person." Luci came over.

"Thank you, dear." Ben smiled to her.

Meanwhile, Sky was looking around in the forest until she saw a little boy looking at her.

"Hey, kid, you need to get out of here, it's too dangerous for someone like you to be out!" Sky tried to warn him.

The boy didn't say anything and turned into a werewolf and roared at her.

"Whoa, a werewolf... Well then, in that case, let's make it even..." Sky grew determined, she morphed into her wolf form and roared as well. "LET'S FIGHT!"

Sky and the boy were now fighting each other to the death.

Meanwhile, in Justine's mind...

Alisha laughed without sympathy or empathy. "I know who gave her those cuts and bruises," she told Jo. "You know why? Because I did that to her!" 

"You mean you did this to her!?" Jo was disgusted by Alisha's actions.

"Yeah, I don't see what the big deal is!" Alisha scoffed back.

"She's an innocent soul..." Jo narrowed her eyes. "How could you be so beastly?"

"That's just the way I am, Man Lady!" Alisha laughed.

"Jo and Justin are dead because of me," Justine cried still. "It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault..."

"I just love a person who's in pain." Alisha laughed.

"You're a sick, twisted person, you know that!" Cindy was outraged herself.

Alisha just hissed at her face. Cindy yelped and shivered suddenly, she was so cowardly.

"I'm sorry, Jo and Justin, I couldn't save you..." Justine was crying. "I'm so sorry!"

This was truly a sad moment. Suddenly, there came an old woman. The others looked and saw her.

"Granma!" Cindy rushed to the woman and hugged her.

"Stand back, dear..." Mary Ruth told her granddaughter and took out a cane that doubled as a weapon. "Granny's got some butt to kick for you and your friends."

"Not so fast, grandma," Alisha mocked Mary Ruth. "There's one person that's gonna help me in this fight," She then snapped her fingers and as she did, a girl about 19-years-old with blond hair with purple highlights, a burised eye on her right eye, wearing a cheetah spotted tank top, bandages on her arm, black pants, and grey boots. "Meet Lexi, everyone."

"Hey, grandma," Jo looked to Mary Ruth. "Let me help you fight with these bimbos."

"Grandma...." Cindy held her grandmother's hand.

"Don't worry, Cindy, I will be fine..." Mary Ruth soothed her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to kick some butt with your friend."

Cindy smiled to her, she didn't think this was actually her grandmother, just a happy thought that came alive.

"Are you ready, Jo?" Mary Ruth asked as she was on Jo's side.

"Which one do you want?" Jo smirked to her. "You wanna take on this ugly bitch," she first pointed to Alisha. "Or you wanna take on the bitch's friend?" she then pointed the Lexi.

"Watch your language..." Mary Ruth briefly scolded her.

"Sorry." Jo frowned then.

"There's no way that old lady or she-man can stop us!" Lexi hissed.

"I'll take this little lady, Lexi... I've seen scarier things in Cindy's grandfather's toilet!" Mary Ruth sneered. 

"Bring it on, old lady!" Lexi challenged.

Mary Ruth charged for her and started to fight the girl like her cane was a weapon and even whacked her a few times.

"Great, I'll deal with this one!" Jo smirked.

Alisha then took out her whip. "Bring it on, Man Lady!"

Jo snarled and went to fight Alisha. Alisha tried to whip against Jo, but Jo proved to be a much more worthy opponent.

Alisha used her whip to grab Jo's ankle and caused her to fall. "You're pathetic just like your stupid girlfriend!" she snapped. "Soon she'll be dead and then you can't do anything about it!" she then laughed sadistically.

Jo was actually a little scared now and for some reason, she couldn't transform here, but when Alisha came closer, Jo used both her feet and kicked Alisha against the floor, making her drop her whip. Jo picked up the whip and knelt over top of the other girl and grinned evilly. "You were saying?"

Alisha grunted and kicked Jo off from her and looked at Justine, then smirking. "What will you do if I kill your girlfriend right in front of you!?"

"I'll never forgive you and do something even worse..." Jo snarled.

Alisha merely laughed. "What could you do that's even worse?"

Jo growled strongly. Mary Ruth knocked out Lexi and whacked her cane at the back of Alisha's head. 

Alisha's head cracked and she fell forward onto the floor. She then groaned and gave up a little. "Since you beat me, I have no choice but to tell you that Ben Ravencroft and his daughter Lucinda summoned me to get rid of her." she then revealed to them, pointing to Justine who was still in terrible shape. 

Jo came to Justine then.

"Terrible Ravencrofts... I'll never understand where they got it..." Mary Ruth sighed. "Do you have a way to get her back to normal and out of here?"

"The only way to get back here to have her normal is someone has to... guh... Kiss her and tell her that it's not real." Alisha answered, honestly. 

"Does it matter who kisses her?" Jo smirked with a raised eyebrow to Justine.

"Usually in a cliche love story, it's true love's kiss, so knock yourself out." Alisha shrugged.

"Jo... It's time to prove your love to Justine..." Cindy said with a small smile to the jockette.

"This oughta be good." Discord commented as he grabbed some popcorn.

Justine whimpered on the ground.

"Are those two together?" Mary Ruth asked her granddaughter, implying Jo and Justine.

"Y-Yes ma'am..." Cindy nodded, biting her lip. "You're not ashamed they're both girls, are you, G-Granma?"

"Of course not," Mary Ruth chuckled. "Don't you remember? Your mother went to high school with a friend who's in a relationship today and they're both girls... Remember Leslie and Deb?"

Cindy was a little surprised, she never knew the friends her grandmother was talking about were a couple, she just thought they were best friends when she was a little kid. She smiled and hugged her grandmother. "I wish you were real..." she whispered, not knowing that she really was.

"It's okay, Justine..." Jo cooed as she got next to her girlfriend. "It's not real, I promise you and nothing is your fault..." she then whispered and leaned closer, kissing Justine on the lips very sweetly and truthfully.

"Beautiful," Discord sniffled emotionally, wiping a tear from his eye. "Very beautiful."

"You know, that guy is pretty hot..." Lexi said to Alisha. "Too bad he's taken." 

Alisha nodded in agreement.

"Ugh..." Cindy groaned that Jo was mistaken for a guy again.

Jo stroked some of Justine's hair. "It's alright..."

Justine's wounds started to heal up and she hugged Jo's chest. "Warmth..." she whispered.

"Don't those two make a cute couple, Cindy?" Mary Ruth smiled to her granddaughter.

Jo sniffled and hugged Justine closer. 

"I suppose..." Cindy smiled about this moment.

"Now, to get you all out of here." Discord informed.

"Umm... Hello, you're forgetting something." Alisha spoke up.

"Yeah, what about us!?" Lexi added, a little offended.

"What about you?" Cindy asked them. "Aren't you just hallucinations in our minds?"

"Hello, little girl weren't you listening?" Alisha knocked her on the head. "I said that we were summoned by Ben Ravencroft and his daughter, so we're not hallucinations!"

"Yeah, duh!" Lexi added with a scoff.

"Then what're they doing here?" Cindy pointed to her grandmother and Discord.

"Actually..." Discord got in her face with a smile. "I am a hallucination... And you better not make any plans to sleep tonight because I'm going to give you ideas for your newest fan fiction of me~... Ta-Ta, Monkey Girl..." he then transported himself away.

Cindy blinked rapidly. "That was weird..."

"So, Mr. McHottie~," Lexi started to flirt with Jo. "Do you wanna do something later on tonight?"

"How 'bout me, Hotstuff?" Alisha added, also winking to Jo.

"Guys, I'm clearly taken." Jo said as she held Justine.

Mary Ruth tapped on their heads with her cane. "Now, now, you two will find your own knights in shining armor." 

Lexi and Alisha stopped, trying to be mature about this.

Cindy sighed with a sniffle.

"Are you okay, baby?" Mary Ruth asked her.

Cindy looked back sadly at her, still not knowing this was really her grandmother and just a dream, nothing more. "I just wish you were really with me... I've been left out a lot growing up... I could never have someone to come to Grandparent's Day at school with me... Mom always told me about how you loved to bake pies and that you would love to bake me some... How you always loved grandchildren who could do stuff... I just wish you could see how much I've grown and developed..."

Mary Ruth sighed. "I didn't want to tell you this, but I have no choice... Sweetie, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" Cindy asked softly.

Jo carried Justine bridal style and found a way out. "Guys, I found the exit, follow me!"

"I'll tell you later, now let's go." Mary Ruth advised.

Cindy then followed her grandmother.

"Hey, wait for us!" Alisha and Lexi called, following them.

"Come on!" Jo called as she led the way out.

"Anything you say, cutie pie." Alisha agreed.

"We're right behind you, studmuffin!" Lexi nodded.

Jo carried Justine as she led the way out. Cindy and Mary Ruth followed, as did Alisha and Lexi.

Once they came out, the sky was all black now and surrounded by clouds and it looked like the bowels of the underworld. 

"W-Where are we?" Cindy quaked. "What happened?"

"The world has really gone to Hell..." Mary Ruth looked firm. "We should be seeing your great-grandmother any moment, Cindy..."

"Great-Grandmother?" Cindy looked confused a moment. 

'My mother." Mary Ruth laughed.

Cindy slightly rolled her eyes and kept walking with the others.


	12. Chapter 12

Miranda looked in horror as the world was coming to an end, Ben had brought Hell to Earth, and everyone was his slave, even her, but he would still make her marry him. This wasn't looking good for anyone. The groups all met up and saw what was happening. Luci's laugh was heard as she was enjoying the power as much as her dad was.

"Luci, stop it, you promised you'd never hurt me!" Marie snarled. "Now let everyone else go!"

Luci chuckled, showing her hand. "Sorry, had my fingers crossed, Marie Felman!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" Marie scowled, wanting to charge for the girl. "Why I oughta--"

"We won!" Luci merely laughed. "Nobody can stop us now!"

Marie was about to attack, but she was slipping and falling, grabbing onto a rock as there was lava deep down below.

Luci smirked, she then knelt down by her 'best friend' and grabbed her hands. "Long live the King..." she taunted, then let go.

Marie screamed as she was falling to her untimely death.

"MARIE!!!" Mike cried for her and ran just in time to catch her.

Marie still screamed, then stopped and looked to her savior. "Oh, hey Mike..."

"Man, that was a close call..." Mike said as she carried her, then set her safely on her feet. "You okay?"

Marie scoffed, but had tears in her eyes. "I'm fine... Who needs friends, right?" she folded her arms and turned her back coldly.

"Don't say that, you're a good person, better than your sisters, and I think you're a good friend as well." Mike soothed her, she had become Marie's first real friend after all.

"Marie, are you crying?" Cindy asked the older girl.

"Shut it, shorty..." Marie hid her tears, looking angst due to what has happened to her lately. "I don't cry..."

"Marie..." Cindy drawled out her name.

Marie looked back at her, then cried out loud, pulling her into a hug. 

"Okay, you didn't need to hug me!" Cindy squeaked, a little claustrophobic.

Eddy and Duncan were looking at Alisha and Lexi flirt with Jo and it made them laugh. 

"Geez Jo, I never knew you had two more girlfriends." Eddy laughed.

"Yeah, you're a babe magnet." Duncan added, also laughing.

"Ah, shuddap." Jo scowled at them.

"Where is Ben?" Mary Ruth asked Marie.

"Up there..." Marie pointed to a very long and high staircase where a throne was followed by flashes of lightning.

"You'll never beat my daddy, you see," Luci looked to Mike to make sure she heard this especially. "He brought your mother back to life and captured her!"

"Mom?" Mike's eyes widened slightly.

Miranda was kneeling beside Ben's new throne, she had a chain wrapped around her neck that was attached to his chair.

"Yep and my daddy is gonna make her his queen and slave!" Luci laughed in victory.

"Good always beats evil!" Mike snarled to Luci.

"First time for everything, Mastinky!" Luci retorted, getting in her face.

Mike growled and went to pounce her, but Luci transported away from her, making Mike fall against the ground.

"Missed me!" Luci taunted.

Mike tried again, but still missed Luci. "Stay still! How come I keep going through you?"

"Ghost and witch powers run through my veins..." Luci taunted. "Give up now or your friends will be goners..."

Suddenly, the others were chained up in a dungeon that had fire on the ground and they were held up against the walls. 

"Guys!" Mike cried to them as they were trapped and imprisoned.

"The choice is yours, Michelene," Luci taunted before disappearing. "Your mother or your friends..."

"Go on and save your mom, Mike!" June encouraged.

"Your mother needs you more than ever!" Eddy added.

"Trust us, if we die, it was great being friends with you, Mike..." Trent said softly.

Mike had tears in her eyes. "I can't just leave you guys!"

"Mike... I was always told that family comes first..." Cindy said to her. "Go on without us..."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but family is more important than your friends right now." Duncan said, rather maturely, surprisingly enough.

"In case we don't make it, it doesn't mean we won't watch over you, because we will." Double D soothed.

"You're the only one who can stop Ben, now go!" Dawn urged her to go forward.

"And one more thing is that we love you, Mike, we're all like a family, a second family." Sammy sniffled.

"You guys sure?" Mike frowned softly to them.

They meant it, they let her go without them. This was so hard, but Mike was going to go save her dead mother.

Mary Ruth was by her side, making Mike look up to her, shocked. "I'm coming with you, Michelene." she told the tomboy.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Mike looked at her strangely.

"I know all, my dear..." Mary Ruth said calmly. "And I trust you to both save your mother and my granddaughter with your friends."

"But, you heard what Luci said... I can't save them both..." Mike said to her.

"Never say 'can't, dear... That's quitter talk... Now, do you trust me to go with you?" Mary Ruth asked.

"Yes, I trust you, but, I don't think I'm strong enough to defeat Ben and save the people I love." Mike sighed.

"Who says you're going alone?" Mary Ruth smiled. "I'm stronger than I look... I spent the past eight years keeping my granddaughter safe without anyone even knowing about it... I cleaned up Ben's messes, I can handle anything."

"You knew Ben as a child?" Mike asked, curiously.

"Before I got married to Cindy's grandfather and we had her mother, I was a live-in nanny to get away from my mother." Mary Ruth explained.

"What about his bratty daughter?" Mike asked her. "She has ghost/witch powers, how are we gonna defeat her?"

"That, my dear, is in the eye of the beholder..." Mary Ruth advised.


	13. Nightmare on Oakhaven Street

Ben had done it, he had full control of the world now and everyone was at his mercy and knees... Well, almost everyone for that matter. Miranda still knelt by Ben and tried to avoid any sort of contact with him, whether eye contact or speaking to him. She could see her long-lost youngest child coming however, with the legendary 'Malovea Youngblood'. She did her best to keep quiet though. She then decided to trick Ben and lure Mary Ruth and Mike over to be able to find a way to defeat Ben once and for all. 

"What're you gonna do now, Daddy?" Luci asked Ben, very sweetly and cutesy.

"Well, I don't know, sweetie," Ben chuckled, then looked to Miranda. "Any suggestions, my love?"

Miranda's stomach turned, resisting the urge to gag. "Oh, but what if you get defeated, my dear?" she falsely flirted with him, putting her hands together with her chocolate-brown eyes fluttering.

"Oh, my darling..." Ben touched her cheek in romantic embrace. "You know that nobody is going to stop me."

Miranda hid shivers and the urge to slap Ben. "Surely you have a weakness..." she said through a false, sexualized smile.

Ben laughed, seeming to know what she was trying to do. "Maybe I do, but I'll tell you later."

Meanwhile Mike's friends were still locked up and made Mike go save her dead mother.

"Well, at least we're gonna die with this hunk!" Lexi hugged Jo's arm.

"Yeah!" Alisha agreed.

Jo rolled her eyes at them.

"Sorry girls, but uhh... Jo's kinda spoken for." Brianna chuckled nervously.

"Aww..." Alisha and Lexi whined.

"At least they're not as annoying as Katie and Sadie." Trent murmured.

"Well, he can room for two more girls, that way, he can have three girlfriends." Alisha insisted.

"Have you been working out?" Lexi looked at Jo. "You seem a lot stronger than before, Mr. Dreamboat." she then drooled slightly.

"Guys, we're about to die... I don't think this is a good time to flirt..." Eddy looked to them.

Ed was laughing a little. "My feet smell like smoke..."

"Well, this is it..." Abby sharply sighed. "It's been fun hanging out with you guys... And you, Cindy, you're one cool looking kid to hang out with."

"Aw... No, I'm not..." Cindy smiled small.

"Yeah, you are," Abby insisted. "You're the most fun person to hang out with."

"You're way better than, dare I say it, Sarah and Jimmy." Brianna added.

"Aw come on, I'm a total geek..." Cindy mocked herself. "I read books all the time and I never even kissed a boy..." 

"Didn't you say some kid named Steve kissed you a lot?" Jo asked her. "Isn't he your boyfriend?"

Cindy grew disgusted instantly. "That was against my will and I was almost drowning in his saliva!"

"How about that Zac kid you have a crush on?" Ashlyn thought then.

Cindy hid a blush. "What about him? He's not interested in me..."

"How come you never went out with him?" Dee Dee asked.

"I don't think I'd be good enough for him..." Cindy looked distant. "Besides, I'm too young for a boyfriend, but... I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore."

Justine sighed sadly. "I guess I won't get to see Justin anymore..." a tear then rolled down her cheek.

"It's okay... "Jo soothed. "I'm right here, Justine."

Justine looked to her and nuzzled against her. 

"Hey, how come she gets to cuddle with him!?" Alisha scowled.

"Give it a rest, guys..." Trent deadpanned, you know you went too far if Trent was annoyed with you.

"That's so unfair!" Lexi wailed.

"Thank you for rescuing me..." Justine cooed to the jockette.

"Of course... I couldn't go without you." Jo smiled to her.

"I just hope Mike knows what she's doing..." June hummed as she watched the hellish throne from afar.

Mike walked up the steps and landed on her knees.

"Ah, Michelene Mazinsky..." Ben chuckled. "How nice to see you."

"WHERE'S MY MOM, YOU BOZO!?" Mike demanded.

"Your mother?" Ben pretended not to know what she was talking about. "Ah, you mean Miranda..."

Miranda poked her head out with fearful and injured tears in her eyes. "Michelene!" she called out as strong as she could.

"Mom..." Mike's eyes were very soft, she wasn't sure what to say or do now.

"My new fiancée..." Ben patted Miranda on the head.

"Can I at least hug her, Benny?" Miranda batted her eyelashes to him. "I haven't hugged my little girl in nine years..."

"Well, if you must... Go on ahead, my dear and beautiful new wife..." Ben allowed it just this once.

Mike and Miranda hugged each other, both had tears in their eyes.

"I missed you so much..." Mike whimpered.

"Oh... I missed you too..." Miranda sniffled. "I missed you all every day... You're really a lot like your father."

"Thanks, Mom, but I'm worried that I can't beat him, in fact I couldn't beat his daughter, I think she's stronger than me because she has ghost/witch powers," Mike informed her mother softly. "I'm so weak, I couldn't even save my friends!"

"Michelene... You must believe in yourself and Mary Ruth... I believe in you... We all do... Your father also believes in you..." Miranda tried to soothe.

Mike sniffled, this just felt impossible.

"Ah, what a lovely family reunion..." Ben made Miranda stand up. 

Miranda gave Mike a quick wink, she slid her hands to the spell book that Ben had been sitting on. "Oh, Ben Ravencroft... I never noticed how incredibly handsome you were..." she faked a seductive woman's voice in order to charm and distract him. 

"Mom, what're you doing!?" Mike freaked out.

"You're so strong and you'r such a hunk!" Miranda flirted, looking quite sultry.

Mike looked sick to her stomach. "Aw man, Mom..."

"Yes... Go on..." Ben grinned darkly.

"And your hair..." Miranda put her hands around his shoulders and curled her finger. "Is so... Twisted..."

Luci could see Mary Ruth trying to get the book and was about to yell out. "DADD--"

Mike decided to take care of Luci once she noticed what was happening and put her hand over the younger girl's mouth to shut her up. "Shut your mouth, brat, otherwise I will show you the true meaning of fear!" she whispered in a demonic voice.

Luci actually showed fear toward Mike and tried to turn the tables as Mary Ruth was inches away from the spell book. Ben glanced back to see what happened, but Miranda forced herself to kiss him deep on the lips.

Luci and Mike saw that and were revolted. "Yuck!"

Mary Ruth grabbed the spell book and gave a thumbs up to Miranda. Miranda gave a quick one back. 

"Why Miranda..." Ben grinned to her, then felt something off and turned to Mary Ruth in sheer anger. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO KILL YOU, WOMAN!?"

Mike broke her mother's chains to free her and kicked Ben down on the floor instantly.

"DADDY!" Luci yelped.

"Michelene, why don't you handle the kid while your mother and I deal with Ben!?" Mary Ruth quickly suggested.

"You got it!" Mike nodded, then went to tackle down Luci.

Ben growled once he got up from the floor.

"Give it up, Ben, you can't win!" Miranda sneered to him.

"Oh, what's the matter, Miranda?" Ben taunted her. "Not so big and tough without your beloved John here with you? I'll do better than Sarah ever could or would when she roamed in the 1600's!"

Miranda growled at him for that. "Shut up, soon I'll be done with you and I promise you that you'll be in Hell for the rest of your pathetic life!"

"Sorry, but I drained you all of your powers." Ben retorted.

"WHAT!?" Miranda glared at him.

"How else could I face Wolf-Shadowed People without deathly consequences?" Ben taunted. 

Miranda growled and went to charge for him, but he had zapped her with an energy blast from the palm of his wicked warlock hand.

"Miranda, I know a way to get back your powers." Mary Ruth whispered to the woman.

Miranda weakly looked up to her as the thunder rumbled.

"How do you even have ghost powers!?" Mike growled to Luci.

"Easy... I'm a ghost..." Luci revealed with glowing green eyes like Danny Phantom.

"Are you kidding me!?" Mike felt her days were numbered. "There's no way I can defeat her... No way..." she then whispered, losing all confidence.

Luci kicked Mike clear across the face and sent her flying to a ledge as she dangled above the magma that was broiling and there were souls and skeletons reaching up from the catacombs to drag her down with them. "There's no way you're gonna beat me," she taunted the tomboy. "I'm stronger than you, soon, your little friends are gonna be dead!"

"Oh, no they're not!" Mike kept attempting to beat her, even if Luci was very strong for a little girl, possibly due to having a warlock father and an evil witch ancestor. 

"It's a shame I have to do this to you, Miranda..." Ben walked to the fallen mother of three living children. "I was hoping maybe you would be of use to me... But you betrayed me, and now you must suffer the punishment from your misdeeds."

Miranda groaned, then dropped her voice low to a whisper. "I'm sorry, kids, but it looks like he won."

"No, this is not good, this is not good at all!" Cindy whined.

"SHUT UP!" Ben snapped at her. "Will you just SHUT UP!? Do you ever stop talking!? It never solves anything, all you do is yammer on about nosense, you dumb, typical, unfortunate, little girl! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a world to conquer..." he then stormed off.

The others looked to Cindy and apologized to her for Ben of being rude to her and she was his number one fan.

"Cindy, you okay?" Duncan noticed how she wasn't moving or doing anything. "Cindy...?"

"Ben Ravencroft called me DUMB!" Cindy looked angry for once in her life.

"This sucks," Abby groaned, then suddenly heard some screaming. "What the--"

The two hellish guards that were guarding Mike's friends looked at each other.

"What the heck!?" one of the guards wondered.

The other guard came to the other two guards.

"Bad news," the guard looked to the two others. "Our force is getting defeated by some teenage robot girl."

"Teenage robot girl?" the other guard asked in disbelief.

They were then suddenly knocked out, Cindy still looked very angry that her idol dissed her like that. The robot girl flew in and extinguished the fire with blasts from her cannoned hands. There also came a ghost boy and he freed them all from their chains and actually made Hell freeze over.


	14. Help is on the Way

"G-G-Ghost!" Alisha and Lexi held Jo in fright.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." the boy told them, before changing back into plain old Danny Fenton for a brief moment to show that he meant them no harm.

Alisha and Lexi then gasped again and came to his sides, swooning over him and forgetting about Jo.

"Uhh... I'm flattered, ladies, but you shouldn't do that..." Danny tried to make them stop. "I already have a girlfriend."

"Phew!" Jo was relieved now that those girls were finally off her hands. "Thank you, they were bugging me!"

"Who's your girlfriend?" Alisha asked Danny.

The teenage robot rocketed down and came to everyone. "Excuse me..." 

"OH MY GOSH, IT'S XJ-9 FROM TREMORTON!" Cindy grew into fan girl mode, then suddenly got angry again. "Still doesn't cheer me up..." she then muttered.

"That's your girlfriend!?" Lexi sounded shocked.

Jenny looked to her. "Uhh... Can I help you?"

"Man, how come the cute guys always get taken?" Alisha growled.

Duncan and Eddy looked and smirked to each other. 

"Hey ladies, Jo is about to show you guys 'his' muscles." Eddy grinned.

"Yes, 'he' is." Duncan added.

Alisha and Lexi looked at each other, squealed, and hugged Jo again. 

"Gaaaugh..." Jo growled as they were on her again.

"How did you know where to find us?" Double D asked Danny and Jenny.

"Ghost sense." Danny answered.

"And I heard a distress call from my mom," Jenny added, then saw how angry Cindy looked. "What's her problem?"

"Ben Ravencroft, he's taking over the world with his bratty kid." Abby explained.

"Lucinda is Ben Ravencroft's daughter who has ghost/witch powers and she's fighting with Mike right now." Dawn added with her eyes closed.

"We have to stop them... Let everyone live in peace from now on." Jenny said, determined.

"I'm gonna help Mike fight against the ghost kid, I'm going ghost!" Danny called, turning into Danny Phantom which made Ashlyn and Abby fan girl squeal.

Jenny smirked to them, which made them clear their throats and try to act natural.

"Can't believe he called me dumb..." Cindy growled and tried to run off to destroy Ben. "LEMME AT HIM! LEMME AT HIM! I'LL BREAK THOSE GLASSES OFF HIS FACE!"

Jenny grabbed Cindy by her jacket. "Not so fast, cupcake, it's way too dangerous for you." 

Cindy frowned and folded her arms. "I became a writer because of that man... Without him, I wouldn't be where I am today..."

Jo looked at Eddy and Duncan since they caused the two girls to fall in love with her again, her eyes flashed red. "If we survive this, I swear you two will WISH THAT BEN WAS FIGHTING YOU!!!" she threatened in her demonic voice.

Eddy and Duncan stood their ground.

Miranda held Mike as Ben was now going against Mary Ruth.

"You're going to wish you were dead those eight years!" Ben sneered to his former caretaker.

"You'll wish you never raised from the dead..." Mary Ruth retorted.

"Big talk for an old hag!" Ben growled. "Where's Luci?" he then looked around for his little girl.

"I'm afraid your daughter is grounded right now..." Mary Ruth grinned menacingly to him.

"What did you do to her!?" Ben glowered at her.

"Keep your pants on..." Mary Ruth scoffed to him.

Luci was dangling from a tree branch by the back of her jumper straps. "At least it's not my underwear..." she murmured as she was stuck.

"I'm going to give you a permanent time out, Benjamin!" Mary Ruth snapped to the former horror author.

"And so am I!" Danny flew by to stand by Mary Ruth's side.

"Who are you?" Ben demanded to know.

"My friends call me Danny, but you can call me the Phantom Fighter." Danny smirked.

"Is that the best you can come up with?" Mary Ruth gave him a deadpan look.

"Hey, it's either that or the Ghostly Specter, cut me some slack." Danny defended.

"You young people and trying to make yourselves look cool..." Mary Ruth rolled her eyes slightly.

"Right... And you're going down, Ben Ravencroft!" Danny sneered. "Nothing will stand in our way!"

"Oh, I love a good challenge!" Ben laughed at them as he cracked his knuckles, ready to use his powers for evil.

Meanwhile with Jenny and Mike's friends...

"Come on, you guys, we got to free the others," the robot girl told the gang. "So... Maybe we could split up." she then suggested.

"We're going with Jo!" Alisha and Lexi volunteered themselves in unison.

Jo rolled her eyes to them.

"I better go with you guys." Jenny offered.

"I go with Brianna," Trent agreed. "Duncan, Abby, you two together too." 

"Right, I'll go with my pals." Eddy gestured to himself, Double D, and Ed.

"Come on, Cindy, you can come with us." Dee Dee smiled to the younger girl.

"Stupid Ben... Calling me dumb..." Cindy snarled.

June patted her head as she was going to go with Dee Dee and Cindy.

Justine looked around and she found little children who were working their butts off and the guards were standing over them and watching them work. "This is awful... Those poor children!" she cried.

"BACK TO WORK!" a guard cracked a whip to the enslaved children.

"Boss, can I take my five second break now?" a boy asked.

"Yes..." the guard said.

The boy smiled, but was suddenly disappointed.

"Now you just used it... BACK TO WORK!"

Jo snarled and her fangs appeared. "Let me handle this, if you guys don't mind..."

The others got out of Jo's way.

"Man, and I thought Sister Thornly was strict!" a boy with a tuft of short ginger hair, big round glasses, a dark blue short-sleeved shirt with black shorts, and red and white sneakers cried out as he worked against his will with the other kids his age and size.

"HEY, NO TALKING BACK!" the guard snapped before cracking his whip onto the boy. "GET BACK TO WORK!"

The orphan boy yelped and got back to work with the others. Jo came over, bearing her fangs to the guards.

"Oh, a wise guy, eh?" the guards snarled back to Jo, ready to fight her. "You think you can take all of us by yourself, boy!?"

"You bet I can..." Jo challenged.

The guards laughed and were in for a surprise as they came closer and closer to Jo to whip the life out of her.

A young girl with black hair tied into pigtails, pink butterfly shirt, short blue overalls, white sneakers and blue bracelet, she was shocked about Jo's appearance and tell her to run, but she couldn't, because she was mute.

"What can you do, little man?" the guard laughed.

"My worst..." Jo's eyes flashed red.

The guards laughed as they came closer and ready to attack Jo.

"And... GO!" Jo may have not been able to transform into a werewolf, but she used all the training she had done in school gyms and her time on Revenge of the Island to put into good use by beating the guards senseless to save the enslaved children.

The guards were surprised and now afraid as Jo was beating the crap out of them.

"Just what the heck are you, anyhow!?" the guard snapped.

"Your mother." Jo dissed before giving that guard a cold punch to the face. 

The guard groaned and then passed out.

Jo turned back to normal and came to the orphaned slaves. "Are you kiddies all right?" she asked in deep concern.

The kids rushed to Jo, liking her a lot better.

"Oh, thank you so much!" the orphan boy cried to her.

"Say, you look familiar..." Jo looked down to him. "Aren't you that Otto Osworth kid who's in the science club with Dexter?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Otto chuckled.

Then the mute girl came up to Jo and tugged on her pant leg.

Jo looked to the girl, not knowing she was a mute. "You're welcome, kid." she said softly to her. 

The girl performed sign language to show her thanks.

"Uhh..." Jo was confused.

"She's a mute," Otto explained to Jo. "She can't talk at all, but she uses sign language to talk to other people."

"Um... What's the kid's name?" Jo asked then.

"Her name is Autumn Evans." Otto informed then.

Autumn hugged the jockette.

Jo smiled and hugged her back. "Um, nice to meet you, Autumn... Uhh... She can hear me, right?"

"Yeah, she's not deaf." Otto explained.

Autumn smiled up at Jo like she was her big idol and greatest hero. 

"Where'd you guys come from anyway?" Jo asked them.

"The orphanage..." Otto said sadly.

"Not Autumn though, she was in a car accident with her parents but, someone caused the accident, putting her folks in a coma and the doctors doesn't know if they will ever wake up." a girl added.

"Oh my gosh, you poor thing..." Jo actually sounded sorry for the mute girl.

Autumn had a tear roll down her cheek.

"From what I heard, the guy who caused it was someone named Todd Inuzzi." Otto added in.

"Hm... Never heard of that name..." Jo gave a small hug to Autumn. 

"Can we go back to where we belong now?" a boy asked.

"Sorry, we have to wait until Ben and Lucinda Ravencroft are defeated." Jo told them but was going to stay with them to make them feel comfortable.

All of the little girls came to Jo and had hearts in their eyes.

"There's our knight in shining armor." one girl squealed.

"Will you marry me?" the second girl pleaded.

"Can you be my boyfriend?" the third girl added.

Jo chuckled. "Sorry girls, you're too young and I'm already taken."

"Aww..." the girls whined.

"Hey, what about me?" Otto grinned, flexing imaginary muscles. 

This made the girls laugh at him.

"Who's the lucky girl?" the first girl then asked.

"Can we make a fan club of you?" the second girl asked.

"Can we hug you?" the third girl finished.

"Her name is Justine, sure you can have a fan club, and... Just one hug... I'm sorry, girls, but I'm too old for you anyway." Jo said to them.

The girls got excited, they gave Jo a hug and once this would be over, they would make their Jo fan club.


	15. Any Last Words?

Miranda was getting weaker and weaker, she was looking more pale than normal and it made her skin appear to be white as a sheet. 

"Mom..." Mike hugged her dead mother.

"I can't go on, Michelene... Make sure you tell your brother and sister I love them too and always will..." Miranda said softly, stroking Mike's face as Mary Ruth took her turn against Ben.

"You can't defeat me, you old windbag," Ben laughed at the elderly woman who dared to challenge him. "I'm more powerful than you, no one can hurt me!"

"I changed your diapers, I got you to eat vegetables, I made you share your toys, I will not let you defeat me, Benjamin..." Mary Ruth narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, I'd like to see you try, you hag!" Ben challenged.

"No, Mom, please don't go!" Mike cried as she saw her mother dying once again. "Mommy!" she was crying, but then she looked at Ben angrily.

"Game's Over for you." Ben grinned evilly.

Danny also growled at him, but then looked shocked once he saw what Mike was doing. Darkness surrounding Mike and her mother changing Mike into something

"What the heck is happening!?" Ben actually gasped in fear.

"Your worst fears come alive..." Mary Ruth taunted, knowing exactly what was happening, it was all going according to the ultimate plan design.

"You captured my friends... You turned my mom into a slave... You make her into your fiancée... And you killed her..." Mike's voice was calm as always at first, then it grew demonic to the warlock author. "NOW, YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"

Ben actually stepped back in fear of her.

"Should we step away?" Danny looked to Mary Ruth.

"Oh yes, for your own protection, Daniel..." Mary Ruth agreed.

Danny backed away with the elderly woman as this was between Mike and Ben now.

"Kick his can, sweetie..." Miranda coughed as she looked very sick, allowing Mike to take down an old family friend.

"Now, now, Michelene," Ben chuckled nervously of his former goddaughter. "Surely you'll forgive me for this, right?... You do forgive me, right Michelene?"

"I will NEVER forgive for as long as I live..." Mike narrowed her glowing eyes as she grew stronger and more powerful. "And remember this... The.... Name... Is... MIKE!!!!" she barked before forcing him to step down from the throne he created for himself. She then grabbed the spell book and threw it to Mary Ruth while she started to beat up Ben and forced him to dangle for his life.

"Michelene, please... Don't let me fall, I'll change, really I will!" Ben cried as he was holding on for dear life.

"Don't worry... You won't fall..." Mike mocked him. "Mary Ruth, read the spell!"

"'Ancient evil get thee hence  
Only good can recompense  
For the misdeeds you have done  
Warlock return from whence you've come'!"

The book glowed even brighter, turning the world back to normal and it was peaceful in Oakhaven again and the book started to suck Ben away as he tried to claw his way out, but was dragged against his will.

"I gotta get out of here!" Luci grew frantic as she got herself down from the branch and tried to run away.

"Where do you think you're going, Missy?" Danny grabbed her. "Hey Mike, you want to deal with her or should I!?" 

"You wouldn't hurt a little girl, would you?" Luci begged with tears in her eyes.

"You're not a little girl..." Mike got in her face. "The little girls I know are made of sugar, spice, and everything nice, but you are SOUR! SPICY! AND EVERYTHING ROTTEN!" she was about to kick the girl.

"Please, allow me." Marie smiled, she then growled and kicked the girl backward.

Luci yelled as she flew through the air and landed back into the orphanage she came from where her chances of adoption would be slim. Ben yelled out as he was being sucked right back into the book and it closed.


	16. Restored Peace

Cindy picked up the book. "This book is indestructible... I don't know where else to put it..." 

"Maybe the Lee family could hold onto it..." Mary Ruth suggested.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Cindy smiled to her grandmother. 

Everything was all now back to normal and Justine was healed from her scrapes and could reunite happily with Jo again.

Duncan looked to see the little girls were following Jo and he just laughed. "Look at that, our little jockette is a babe magnet!"

Eddy laughed with him. "Hey Jo, when's the wedding?" he then mockingly asked. "'Cuz I think there's gonna be a lot of weddings!"

Jo glared at them, making them shut up.

"Shut up, Duncan..." Abby teased her brother.

Duncan rolled his eyes at her, but got her in a headlock and started to give her a noogie. 

"Aw, man, cut it out!" Abby struggled, but laughed.

Mary Ruth handed the Ravencroft spell book to June. "Give this to your grandmother, Juniper... Make sure she and Monroe keep it safe."

"Can do." June nodded to her as she took the book.

"Hey, Hot Stuff, looks like we won." Alisha said to Jo.

"Yeah, we did, baby cakes." Lexi added.

Eddy and Duncan couldn't hold it in any longer, they then pointed to Jo and laughed at her.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Why'd I save those girls again?"

Taylor rushed over. "Guys, that was so awesome! You're town heroes!"

"Well, it was nothing, really..." Eddy smiled modestly, then looked greedy for a moment. "Do we get a reward? Like money!?"

Everyone then rolled their eyes at the short Ed. 

"What are we gonna do with these little kids?" Jenny asked about the former slaves.

"Well, the little girls no doubt will be Jo's girlfriends." Duncan laughed.

Jo looked at Duncan and Eddy, growling. "You got a three minute headstart." 

"Why?" Eddy asked.

"I'll make it two..." Jo scowled.

"What!?" Eddy yelped. "That's not f--"

"ONE MINUTE!" Jo then growled.

Duncan and Eddy looked to each other and tried to run away in time before Jo would catch them.

"Cindy, promise me you'll never give birth to a boy..." Mary Ruth said as she watched the boys run off.

"I'll try..." Cindy looked up to her. "Uh, Grandma... Why are you still here? Usually when I dream about you, you're gone by the time I wake up..."

"Because Cindy, I'm not a dream... I'm really here with you..." Mary Ruth cooed.

"Really here?" Cindy was confused. "But... You... You died when I was two-years-old..."

"I didn't die," Mary Ruth explained to her. "I'm still alive and well."

"But... Mom said..." Cindy didn't understand. "Grandma, how--"

"I know it's a lot to take in..." Mary Ruth said softly to her granddaughter. "I wanted to wait until you were ready to know the truth... Your parents don't even know I'm still alive either. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I was helping Jasmine Lee help find a way for her granddaughter to leave her hometown since the Te Xuan Ze is bound by wherever they are born from and are unable to leave until another Te Xuan Ze is born. Once I helped her find the way where it was, I was trying to contact you... Cindy, you may seem mortal, but you actually have powers in your dreams... You can see things no one else can from your imagination as a writer, that is why you always dream about me, because I am helping to guide you. The dreams you had about me really did happen and I was just trying to help you see that you have superpowers like your friends."

Cindy blinked, that was a lot to take in and it was very surprising as a matter of fact. "Whoa..." she whispered.

Mary Ruth chuckled and kissed her forehead. "I missed you too, sweetie."

Eddy and Duncan went hiding in an alley and saw Jo nowhere in sight.

"Phew, looks like she didn't find us..." Duncan sounded relieved. "So, I think we're safe."

"Got you!" Jo tackled them both down to the ground.

The boys then screamed in utter fear.

"How did you find us!?" Eddy yelped.

"Can't you take a joke!?" Duncan added.

"Yeah, only if it's not shot at my face more than once!" Jo growled.

"Please Jo, don't hurt us!" Duncan pleaded.

"We'll do anything ya want, just have mercy!" Eddy added.

Jo had a small grin. "Anything?"

Duncan and Eddy looked scared now, that could not be a good sign. "Uh-oh..." 

Jo looked at her fan club. "Oh, girls?"

The three orphaned little girls came over. "Yes, Jo?~"

"These two boys wants to play tea party and play dress up with you or whatever girly girls do." Jo smirked while pointing to Duncan and Eddy. 

"What!? No way!" Duncan gasped.

"We ain't gonna do it!" Eddy added.

The girls giggled, they took Duncan and Eddy over with them, pulling on them.

"JO! THIS ISN'T COOL!" Duncan yelled to her.

Jo laughed and waved to them. "You guys have fun..."

"You wanna come with us, Jo?" one of the girls asked.

"I'll be with you later, I have to take care of somethin' first." Jo replied, ruffling up her hair.

The girl giggled and went to join her friends and the older boys. "Okay!"

"I'm a minor, STOP!" Eddy cried.

"I HATE YOU, JO!" Duncan added, swearing revenge.

Jo just laughed as they went off.


	17. Where to go From Here

Jasmine Lee came by and her granddaughter gave her the Ravencroft spell book.

"Ah-Mah, what do you think you'll do with it?" June asked her.

"Lock it up with all the other magical stuff I keep in my den," Jasmine smiled, taking it. "I'm just glad you're safe... I was so worried about you," she then looked to Cindy's grandmother and looked shocked. "Juniper... Is that Malovea Youngblood?"

"Hello, Jasmine," Mary Ruth smiled. "It's been a while."

The two shared a friendly hug with each other.

"Oh, have you met my granddaughter, Juniper?" Jasmine chuckled. "She's the new Te Xuan Ze."

"So I've heard..." Mary Ruth smiled back. "And you can call me 'Mary Ruth'... It sounds a lot better than Malovea."

"It does." Jasmine agreed.

Cindy and June smiled to their grandmothers and shared a smile together.

"I had been spending so much time trying to get my granddaughter to leave the magical realm and I think it finally worked and it will work for her future child who will become the next Te Xuan Ze." Jasmine told her old friend.

"I've read..." Mary Ruth smiled. "She's going to have such lovely-Sorry, I shouldn't say anything... Spoiler Alert, you know."

"Yes, I understand." Jasmine laughed.

Mike looked at Alisha and Lexi who are following Jo and she then smirked. "Wow, Duncan was right, Jo, you're a babe magnet."

"Oh, like you aren't?" Jo playfully retorted.

Mike rolled her eyes. "Touché..."

"So what do we do with those two?" Cindy asked, pointing to Alisha and Lexi.

"We can stay with this hunk of a guy." Alisha clung to Jo's arm.

"Why not?" Jo rolled her eyes. "Not like my 'parents' will even notice or care."

Justine smiled at Jo and wrapped her arms around her neck, kissing her on the lips.

Jo smiled since Justine was her girlfriend and not these others. "You okay?"

"I'm fine..." Justine smiled. "Thank you so much for saving me... I just wish Justin were here..."

"Don't worry, babe... You'll see him again, I promise..." Jo cooed to her.

"I hope so... I just hope so..." Justine sighed, then saw Alisha and Lexi giving her dirty looks. "What?"

"Sorry, babe... I'm more popular than I thought..." Jo held Justine, then glared back at Alisha and Lexi. "Look, I appreciate it, but I'm already taken! You guys can find your own boyfriends, I know a lot of single guys at school."

"Really?" Alisha and Lexi asked.

"Yeah, I'll introduce you, but you have to be nice to Justine and respect that I love her, okay?" Jo scolded them slightly.

Alisha sighed in defeat. "Fine."

"Okay," Lexi then looked at Mike. "Is that guy single?"

"Sorry..." Jo told them.

Alisha and Lexi groaned, but they were going to put up with it.

There came a big black stretch limo and there came out someone that no one would expect.

"Stop, stop the madness!" a familiar voice called.

"So sorry, you should've-" Jo was about to tell the person off, but then gasped.

Everyone then looked and gasped to see who was coming.

"Justin..." Justine whispered.

"Justin?" the boys asked.

"Justin?" Cindy asked.

"Who's Justin?" Alisha asked.

"My twin brother... H-He..." Justine was just so surprised to see him after all this time. "Justin, you're here?"

Justin looked at her back with wide eyes. "Justine, is that you?"


	18. Tied Up Loose Ends

"Yes... It is..." Justine let go of Jo briefly to see him. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was actually on my way to a cruise to enter another pageant, but the boat sunk on the way... I don't know how it could've happened though..." Justin shrugged.

Mary Ruth hid a giggle, making Cindy glance to her slightly.

"I really missed you..." Justin hugged his sister. "I'm sorry I left you with Mom... But she made me go, I've actually been really unhappy without you." 

"You don't know the half of what I've been feeling..." Justine looked up to him.

Justine sniffed and hugged her twin right back. "I really missed you... I've been thinking about you."

"I've thought a lot about you too..." Justin stroked her hair.

"I-I also wanted to share this with you... I just couldn't tell Mom, I know she wouldn't like it..." Justine held his hands. "You know Jo from Revenge of the Island, right?"

"I know she isn't a boy..." Justin rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Lightning needs to learn logic or wear glasses."

"Tell me about it..." Justine mumbled, then blushed slightly. "Anyway... Umm... Justin, if I were attracted to another girl, would you feel ashamed to have me as your sister?"

"No, of course not, you know I love you so very much." Justin smiled to her.

"Well... Here's Jo." Justine introduced the two.

"Hey, I've heard a lot about ya..." Jo smiled and came toward Justin, shaking his hand. "Justine's a sweet girl." 

"She is, isn't she?" Justin chuckled, shaking back.

Justine smiled at this sweet and tender moment.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Justin decided to get to know Jo a little bit better.

"Going on a year now," Jo smiled. "We love visiting each other."

"What does Mom say about this?" Justin wondered.

"She's never there..." Justine frowned. "I see her sometimes, but I swear, it's like she's never home anymore... I think she's trying to abandon me."

"It's true," Jo nodded to confirm this as the truth. "It's the same with my so-called parents."

"Sorry to hear that... I wish there was something I could do." Justin sounded very sympathetic. 

"I never saw this side of you, Justin," Trent looked to him. "You always seemed a little narcissistic and kind of a bully with your beauty back on Total Drama Island..."

"I was just using that as a cover just in case Mom was watching," Justin explained. "But whenever we'd go to bed, I'd actually be crying because I missed Justine so much. I had a lot of people who wanted to be my friend, but she was deep down my best friend forever... We were close even before our dad died, but that brought us closer together. Until Mom went grocery shopping with us and there was an agent who wanted to make me into a child model, it changed our lives forever."

"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, man." Trent cooed.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Justine asked her twin. "Go back to Mom?"

"I haven't decided yet, but just remember, in a year, we'll be adults and we can move out." Justin reminded them.

Jo and Justine smiled to that. 

"What about jobs?" Cindy asked them. "You kinda need a job so you can live in your own place and don't get thrown out."

Justin looked at Cindy. "Who's that girl?"

"Sorry Justin, this is Cindy, she's a very smart young girl and one of our friends," Justine introduced. "You have a lot to learn now that you're back in town." 

"Hey kiddo." Justin smiled to Cindy.

Cindy looked to him, a little expressionless. "Hi...?" 

Mike was having an emotional moment and cried that her mother had died again and there was nothing to bring her back. Eddy frowned, and held Mike with Marie.

"I'm really sorry, Mike..." Marie soothed. "But it was better to have her and lose her, than to have not have her at all..."

Mike sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I know... Let's just go back home where we belong, huh?"

"Let's." Eddy agreed. 

Marie waved to them, she was a little sad herself, but she smiled once Taylor came to her side and they were still going to be friends, even after all this mess.

Autumn came up to Jo and tugged her pant leg again. 

Jo walked with the others and stopped once she saw Autumn. "Hey kid, what's up?"

Autumn showed that she made a picture for Jo in which the jockette was like a superhero. 

"Hey, that's really neat..." Jo chuckled as she held the picture to take a closer look at it. "Did you draw this yourself, kiddo?"

Autumn nodded and tears appeared in her eyes.

"Oh, sweetie..." Jo hugged Autumn, showing a rare sign of affection and kindness toward someone smaller. "It'll be okay... I'll tell you what, I'll come back and visit sometime?"

Autumn looked up with a hopeful look on her face.

"I promise." Jo said to her with a small smile.

"Looks like Jo is growing to be a big soft teddy bear." Duncan laughed.

"I see he didn't change at all." Justin muttered.

"He has a sister who's a delinquent just like him." Justine quietly informed, Justin had a lot to learn once they all got back home.

"Not surprised..." Justin laughed.

"Come on, guys, it's a long way home." Dee Dee said as they all walked.

"Juniper, can I trust you to never open this book when you, Dennis, and Ray-Ray visit?" Jasmine asked as she carried the spell book.

"Don't worry, Ah-Mah, I'll make sure Ray-Ray never sees or even hears about it." June assured. 

"Thank you..." Jasmine smiled as they all went to go back home.

Cindy hugged her grandmother. "I can't wait for you to see Mom and Daddy and our new house! Oh, and you have got to read my stories and look at my artwork! Y-You're coming back with us, right, Granma?" she pouted. "You're not gonna leave forever again, are you?"

"Of course not, sweetie, I'm coming with you." Mary Ruth decided to come this time.

"Oh, and you have got to meet Sledgehammer!" Cindy clung to her grandmother.

Mary Ruth chuckled as she walked with her granddaughter to get back home. "We have a lot of catching up to do, honey..."

Cindy smiled as she was finally going to have a moment with a grandparent she had always dreamed of.

Everybody went back to their homes, Mary Ruth suggested for Cindy to hide under her covers, get some sleep and surprise her parents, knowing they would be looking in Cindy's room in the morning to wake up in sadness, but would be given a very special surprise of their lives.

"Where is your guest room?" Mary Ruth asked her granddaughter before letting her sleep.

"Across from my room..." Cindy said sleepily.

"Good night, my dear... Rest easy..." Mary Ruth smiled, then went to the guest room to sleep as well, Cindy's parents were going to have a very pleasant and wonderful surprise when they would come see Cindy's empty bedroom in the morning. 

The next day everyone, including Mary Ruth, Justin, Alisha and Lexi were over at Pop's Diner, having a good lunch and peaceful time with each other.

"At least those pesky cul-de-sac kids aren't bugging us." Mike smiled.

"Cul-De-Sac kids?" Mary Ruth, Justin, Alisha, and Lexi asked in confusion.

"Long story..." Mike said as she ate up.

"They're bullies..." Cindy pouted to her grandmother.

Mary Ruth chuckled and patted Cindy on the head. "Don't worry, as soon as you get older, they'll become weaker than you believed them to be strong... It's all part of growing up. Your mother did the same when she was bullied by older girls in our neighborhood since she played with trucks and cars and not dolls or make-up."

Cindy smiled and hugged her grandmother, crying a little.

"What's wrong, dear?" Mary Ruth saw her tears.

"I just can't believe you're here with me... I mean, all those lonely Grandparents Days at school..." Cindy sniffled. "I always wanted to do things with you that my friends complained about doing with their grandparents... Mom even felt the same way when her friends would complain about having to take care of their parents."

"Don't worry, sweetie, I'm gonna stay right here from now on, I promise you." Mary Ruth smiled and kissed her granddaughter on the forehead.

Justin looked to Jo. "Are you taking good care of my sis?" he asked protectively, being the older brother and all.

"I think I am." Jo chuckled.

"I know you are~..." Justine smiled sweetly.

Jo chuckled and put Justine on her lap and kissed her.

"Aw guys, really!?" Eddy groaned. "We're trying to eat, get a room!"

"Yeah, Little Miss Softie." Duncan added, this last part for Jo.

"Don't make me call the girls again." Jo told Eddy and Duncan.

Duncan and Eddy tried to change the subject with Jo and move on.

"Too bad we didn't get to run into the Hex Girls this time..." Eddy sighed.

"Yeah..." Duncan stared out the window, feeling lost and in despair.

Kevin came in with his friends, then saw Mike and her friends. "Hey, Dorks... Hey, Justine..." he then winked to her.

Justin glared at Kevin for hitting on his sister.

"That's them..." Cindy whispered to her grandmother.

"I don't like them already..." Mary Ruth narrowed her eyes.

"So, you're the one who keeps harassing my sister." Justin narrowed his eyes to Kevin.

"OMG Kev, it's Justin from Total Drama Island!" Nazz went into fan girl mode.

Even Sarah and Jimmy squealed.

"Is that a boy or a girl?" Mary Ruth gestured to Jimmy.

"I don't know anymore, Granma..." Cindy shuddered.

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" Kevin narrowed his eyes back at Justin.

"Don't you already have a girlfriend?" Justin pointed to Nazz.

Nazz was not paying attention to Kevin and was staring at Justin.

"So?" Kevin put his arm around Justine. "There's room for one more."

Justine slapped his hand away.

"Ow!" Kevin rubbed his hand, glaring to her.

"I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to leave..." Justin firmly told Kevin.

"Who's gonna make me, pretty boy?" Kevin taunted.

Mary Ruth stood in front of Kevin. "It would be wise you do what the protective older brother does for his little sister..." 

Kevin glared at her. "Get out of the way, old lady!"

"I don't think so, dear..." Mary Ruth had a small smile. "Why don't you step out before I show you something really scary?"

"Kevin, leave us alone or I'll show you the true meaning of fear!" Mike threatened with a promise.

"What, with your dead mother?" Kevin mocked.

Mike hid sadness and just looked even angrier. 

"Surely you children would like some peanut butter cookies..." Mary Ruth lifted up a metal container. 

"Cookies?" Jimmy looked interested.

"Right on!" Jonny cheered as he held Plank.

"Well... Fine... One cookie and Justine's comin' with us..." Kevin shrugged.

"Could you get it open for me?" Mary Ruth smiled. "I have terrible arthritis..."

Kevin popped open the container and a giant fire-breathing and poisonous monster popped out and roared at them, burning the cul-de-sac kids, scaring them and making them run away in fear, even Nazz was afraid she ran with them. Mary Ruth chuckled as she pet the monster and set him back into the container.

"GRANMA!" Cindy was surprised.

"Yes, dear?" Mary Ruth smiled back.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Everybody cheered. 

Mary Ruth chuckled. "Why thank you... I'll make you all a nice pie later tonight... I've been planning to see if Cindy's mother can live up to my recipes I gave her before my departure."

Justine then hugged her brother. "I'm hoping you get to stay, big brother."

"Let's hope so..." Justin hugged back, very glad that they could have this time together again.

Everyone smiled to them, this was a very truly wonderful moment.

Justine hugged Jo and smirked at her girlfriend. "Have you been working out?"

"Depends, you don't need make-up to look that good." Jo chuckled.

Justine giggled. "You're so funny."

Jo pulled Justine back into her lap and stroked her raven hair. All was well and it was a well earned happy ending for everybody.

Meanwhile...

There were splashes on an ocean shore and there came Miranda, she looked very healthy and living. 

Miranda spit up some water and slowly stood up and saw that she was alive and looked around, but she didn't know where she was. "Where... Where am I...? Hello? Hello!" she called, but so far, no one answered her.

Shirley the Medium was collecting seashells for her next spell and saw her. "Miranda Wolfe..."

Miranda rushed to her. "Oh, thank goodness... Can you maybe help me? I don't understand what's going on... I mean, I was dead for nine years and now I'm here... I-I don't understand..."

"Come with me, Miranda... I'll tell you everything..." Shirley took Miranda's hand and walked off with her.

To Be Continued...


End file.
